“Let’s celebrate Citizen Science together at the 5th conference of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) and the 9th Austrian Citizen Science Conference.” – Yes we did!
ECSA, together with the Natural History Museum Vienna, Boku University and Österreich forscht, organised this event from April 3rd to 6th 2024 in Vienna, Austria. Among the 500 participants, Robert Brodschneider and Kristina Gratzer from the University of Graz were included.
The conference was packed with interesting presentations and workshops on a wide range of citizen science projects and relevant topics. On the first conference day, Kristina Gratzer represented the INSIGNIA-EU consortium with a poster. The special thing about the poster session was that each presenter was provided with a bottle of wine and offered a glass to anyone interested while talking about the poster. We would love to see this approach at other conferences as well. On Friday, the 5th, Robert Brodschneider held a talk about Beekeeper participation in environmental monitoring in Europe in front of ca 50 people, followed by an intense talk about beekeeper citizen scientists.
INSIGNIA-EU Poster with bee hives in the background
The evening events had strong cultural influence. We for example visited a traditional place to eat “Heuriger” and a very special event at the Natural History Museum Vienna. For the latter, the curators organized a historical fashion show in a unique and beautiful surrounding.
Left: Dinner at “Heuriger”, right: beautiful Natural history museum and Johann Strauß Quartett.
On the final conference day, a “Citizen Science Day” was announced, with the organizers aiming to foster public participation and engagement. In addition to several excursions and a biodiversity-themed Jump n’ Run game titled “The City is Wild,” the Natural History Museum hosted a marketplace featuring 25 Citizen Science stalls. These stalls offered information in both German and English about a variety of projects and initiatives from Austria and across Europe.
Next year, we will see each other again, but only in an Austrian/German speaking countries way at the the 10th Austrian Citizen Science Conference.
The conference also offered some interesting workshops.
What a scenery at the venue. The beautiful Türkenschanzpark in Währing, Vienna was perfect for strolling around during the lunch break.
Österreich Forscht Blog: https://www.citizen-science.at/blog
Conference Website: https://www.citizen-science.at/konferenz/oesterreichische-citizen-science-konferenz-2024-ecsa-2024
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/csaustria
Kristina Gratzer and Robert Brodschneider