Young Science Congress 2025: Citizen scientists and creative young researchers received awards
The OeAD’s 4th Young Science Congress, held in cooperation with the Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU) and the Ars Electronica Centre (AEC), was dedicated to dialogue between research and the general public. School classes, families and individuals were invited to experience science up close on the JKU campus. The most committed amateur researchers that took part in the Citizen Science Award 2025 and the winning schools of the ‘Young Science Days at Schools’ competition were honoured at the 4th Young Science Congress by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research (BMFWF) and Austria's education agency OeAD. Another highlight was the final of the Young Science Inspiration Award.
Citizen Science Awards 2025 ceremony
From 1 April to 31 July interested people all over Austria were able to participate in seven citizen science projects, ranging from natural sciences to social sciences and technical sciences. The minister of science and research Eva-Maria Holzleitner congratulated the award winners: ‘Science thrives on your questions, your enthusiasm and your cooperation. Over the past few months you have shown that anyone can be part of research. Take this experience with you and spread the word about how exciting science is. Because only together can we strengthen trust in science and research.’
The citizen scientists’ activities were diverse: for example, data on local soil health was collected, multilingualism in public spaces was made visible, aspects of mathematics that are relevant to everyday life were discussed and data on immigrant mosquito species and endangered amphibian species was collected. Twenty-one school classes, two families and five individuals from all nine federal provinces received awards. The prize money of up to € 1,000 per school class was awarded by the BMFWF.
The following schools were among the winners:
- Vienna: GRg 17 Parhamergymnasium, GRg 21 Franklinstraße
- Burgenland: EMS Oberwart
- Styria: Primary school St. Marein bei Neumarkt, HLW FSB Weiz
- Upper Austria: HTL Perg, HTL Braunau, HAK Eferding
- Lower Austria: MS Asparn, BRG Kremszeile, BG/BRG Gmünd
- Salzburg: BG/Sport-RG Saalfelden
- Tyrol: HASCH Schwaz, BRG Schwaz
- Carinthia: HBLA Pitzelstätten
The winners in the ‘Individuals’ and ‘Families’ categories are: Katharina Beer (Vienna), Marcus Kautz (Vienna), Vishnu Prakash Karunakaran (Vorarlberg), Axel Bartos (Lower Austria), Andrée Feyertag (Carinthia), the Holzfeind family (Carinthia) and the team Sila & Sonja.
At the end an anniversary cake celebrating ‘10 years of the Citizen Science Award’ provided a sweet touch.
Young Science Days at schools
For the first time the best ‘Young Science Days at Schools’ were also honoured at the congress. The aim of the competition is to encourage schools to organise Science Days in collaboration with researchers. The award-winning schools in 2025 are:
- Vienna: Primary school Donau-City, BRG/ORG 15 Henriettenplatz, GTVS Kirschenallee
- Burgenland: BG/BRG Neusiedl am See
- Upper Austria: Primary school 8 Goetheschule
- Tyrol: HLWest Innsbruck
- Carinthia: BAfEP Kärnten
- Styria: Primary school Gleinstätten, MS Passail, HLW FSB Weiz
- Lower Austria: Landessonderschule Hinterbrühl
Jakob Calice, managing director of the OeAD, emphasised: ‘The Young Science Days at schools impressively demonstrate how much curiosity, creativity and spirit of research young people have. Such initiatives bring science to life and inspire enthusiasm for research – which is exactly what we at the OeAD want to support with this competition.’
Young Science Inspiration Award ceremony
Three outstanding final projects made it to the finals of this year's Young Science Inspiration Award: Genevieve Louise Cashen, Alice Gottesmann and Timna Hybner impressed researchers, the jury and the audience. A total of 26 projects were submitted, 17 of which contained an inspiring idea for the researchers and were nominated by them for the award.
In the stage final the three finalists presented their theses in four minutes – the audience then chose the winner of the audience award: It is Timna Hybner from the BRG / BORG Schwaz with her thesis on ‘Sleep disorders in adolescents: Causes and effects of sleep disorders in adolescents and possible forms of treatment’.
The JKU’s rector Stefan Koch emphasised: ‘Inspiring young people to take an interest in science is very important to us. When they do their own research and ask questions it sparks the curiosity that makes progress possible.’ Andreas Bauer, managing director of the Ars Electronica Center, added: ‘Curiosity and creativity are the driving forces behind innovation. We are delighted to bring science to life for young people.’
Outlook
Next year the OeAD's Young Science initiatives will invite participation in exciting research projects again. As of February 2026 school classes, families and individuals will be able to find the current research projects for the Citizen Science Award on the OeAD's Young Science website. The closing date for submissions for the Young Science Inspiration Award 2026 is 30 April 2026 and for the Young Science Days at schools it is 10 July 2026.
To view photos of the event: apa-fotoservice.at/galerie/39350
