BMBWF and OeAD present 18 schools with the Young Science Quality Label

Jakob Buchensteiner and Moritz Taferner convinced the audience at the Young Science Inspiration Awards with their mobile, gesture-controlled robot gripping system

Austrian schools that are continuously involved in scientific projects as research partners and that distinguish themselves by particularly successful cooperation with research institutions can apply every two years for the Young Science Quality Label for Research Partner Schools awarded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) and the OeAD. Now their efforts have been recognised by the BMBWF and the OeAD in an online event. 18 schools received the Young Science Quality Label for Research Partner Schools on 7 October 2020. Jakob Buchensteiner and Moritz Taferner were moreover awarded the Young Science Inspiration Award. They developed a mobile, gesture-controlled robot gripping system with haptic feedback in their thesis.
The 18 schools that were awarded the Quality Label convinced the jury – experts from research, science communication and school development. Barbara Weitgruber, head of the Research Section at the BMBWF, emphasises: "These schools are involved in cooperation projects with research institutions, conclude long-term agreements with research partners and develop a research-oriented school focus. They have thus opened themselves wide to research and enabled their pupils to get involved in research fields!"
To the research partner schools: https://youngscience.at/de/awards-guetesiegel/young-science-guetesiegel/forschungspartnerschulen-2020
Young Science Inspiration Awards
 Within the framework of the event those pupils who addressed current research questions from the Young Science Thematic Platform in their pre-scientific papers or diploma theses and thus inspired researchers were also given a platform. 39 papers were submitted.
Two finalists and one finalist team presented their papers in front of the camera on 7 October. The OeAD’s managing director Jakob Calice: "The award’s name says it all: Personally, I was impressed by the level of the papers. They were really inspiring. With this we want to motivate more young people to get involved with science and research and maybe work in science themselves someday."
In the end, Jakob Buchensteiner and Moritz Taferner from the HTL Salzburg convinced the audience with their live presentation and won 500 euros. Voting took place online. More information about the competition can be found here: https://youngscience.at/de/vwa-diplomarbeit/young-science-inspiration-award/
Pupils who missed the submission deadline for 2020 can upload their papers for the Young Science Inspiration Award 2021: https://youngscience.at/de/ysia-einreichungen/anmelden-und-hochladen