Everybody has what it takes to be a scientist! From measuring light pollution via a smartphone app to analyzing pollution on the beach or mapping invasive mosquitoes – these are just three examples of projects in Germany where citizens collaborate with science. Citizen science invites non-professionals to support and conduct scientific research by collecting and analyzing data and bringing in their own questions.
The online platform Bürger schaffen Wissen – Citizens Create Knowledge informs about citizen science, different projects and the opportunities to participate. The platform also connects current projects to each other and seeks to increase public awareness of Citizen science. Bürger schaffen Wissen is a joint project of Wissenschaft im Dialog and the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. The platform is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research; additional funding is provided by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
The main aim of the project "Die Debatte" (The Debate") is to bring in scientific perspectives into societal debates and to initiate open and informed discussions. Thus, we want to show that science has something to contribute to a broad range of topics.
The project is a collaboration between Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD), the Science Media Center Germany (SMC) and the Technische Universität Braunschweig. It is funded by the Volkswagenstiftung, the Stifterverband, the Klaus Tschira Stiftung and the Schering Stiftung.
You want to do field work but you don’t have enough money for your equipment? You need money for analyzing samples or the documentation of your results? With Sciencestarter you can finance your scientific project with crowdfunding. Sciencestarter is the first German crowdfunding community for projects from science, research and science communication. Sciencestarter provides a great opportunity for small-budget projects to present their work to the crowd and get funding.
Sciencestarter was launched in 2012 to provide new ways of raising money for scientific projects in Germany. Sciencestarter is an all-or-nothing crowdfunding platform. This means the project needs to reach at least 100% of the funding target within the deadline to be funded. If the target isn’t reached, the money already collected is returned to the backers. If the target is reached the money is transferred to the initiator and the project can be realized. Meanwhile, the backers are involved in the process of implementation as the project initiator informs them how the project and the funding is advandcing. In return for their financial support the backers can receive a special reward provided by the project. Sciencestarter is supported by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
Science communication is continually developing and changing. In addition to new tools and means of communication, there are also changing content requirements. The community is growing and becoming increasingly professional. The platform wissenschaftskommunikation.de was created to reflect on current trends and topics and to provide support for everyday work in science communication. We invite users to contribute by proposing new formats or getting involved as guest authors.
The website is a cooperation project of Science in Dialogue (Wissenschaft im Dialog), the National Institute of Science Communication (Nationales Institut für Wissenschaftskommunikation) and the institute for German studies of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie). It is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung) and the Klaus Tschira Foundation (Klaus Tschira Stiftung).
