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.
Aiming to create innovative solutions to real-world problems, Hack Your City identifies the problems and develops appropriate ideas and prototypes to target them. In the following 6 months the application is designed, programed or crafted to improve the daily life in our cities. The outcome may be an app, a homepage, a device or something completely different – no matter what, authenticity and utility are the relevant criteria. The project was part of the 2015 Science Year and shared its theme “the city of the future”. Hack Your City is organized by Wissenschaft im Dialog and the Open Knowledge Foundation. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
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.
