Cooperations for Horizon Europe - building the future of Citizen Science together. #HorizonEU

The Horizon Europe programme by the European Union is the key funding programme for EU research and innovation projects. Citizen Science and public involvement have always been a vital aspect of Horizon - both in the predecessor Horizon 2020 and now in Horizon Europe.

Our participant information:
Partner Full Name: SPOTTERON Gmbh
PIC: 905390338
Partner Short Name: SPOTTERON or SPOT
LEAR: Philipp Hummer
Address: Faßziehergasse 5/16, AT 1070 Vienna
Contact email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
> EU Portal Organization details page

Among its missions, the new Horizon Europe programme supports the achievement of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), fights climate change, and integrates science into society on a larger scale. It further strengthens the impact of research and innovation within the European Union and beyond and supports the collaboration between the science sector, small-medium enterprises (SME), and society.

As an SME, we are happy to offer our know-how and services within research projects, applying for Horizon Europe grants. We already bring the experience of how Horizon project partnerships are operating with us, and we contribute actively to a proposal from the early stages. 

Our central part in the proposal stage of a Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe project is to shape how a Citizen Science App integrates seamlessly in the research and creates innovation and participation opportunities for the public, together with the coordinator and the consortium. With years of experience in Citizen and Community Science and the development and maintenance of digital tools and the underlying infrastructure, we bring this know-how to a consortium and strengthen the proposal by a practical approach on how applications and software can benefit the project. Our strong focus on digital ethics and user privacy further helps the proposal with undertaking the complex topics of data protection, GDPR, and intellectual property rights in a digital environment.

Our project contributions in a Horizon Europe partnership:

For the proposal stage:

• Concepts and ideas: From the first call on, we contribute ideas and concepts to explore how the project can utilize Citizen Science and user participation, and we draft which innovation and software features can be developed to achieve the project's goals.
• Technology consulting and AI: we bring an extensive knowledge about technologies, mobile applicaitons, digital data handling and AI (artificial intelligence) to a project and its consortium.
• Proposal Text Contributions: as an active partner in the consortium, we contribute texts for our range of expertise and bring our know-how about the digital landscape and how to apply technical solutions in the right way to the proposal.
• Visual enhancements: we design a project proposal logo and strengthen the proposal by the graphic design of figures and charts for a better understanding and first impression in the review process.

During run-time of the Horizon Europe project:

• Task leadership: as an expert for the digital landscape, design, and user participation, we lead tasks within a work package related to Citizen Science Apps, digital tools, dissemination materials or the project's website.
• Innovation/Technology Development: within a Horizon Europe project, we develop innovative technologies and solutions for Citizen Science, Science communication and data collection.
• Project website: we provide a modern and responsive website for the project based on an easy to use Content Management System (CMS) with advanced features from Blogging to Citizen Science integration
• Reliable ICT Infrastructure: with the SPOTTERON Cloud, we offer a stable and dependable technical base for running participatory projects - from secure data hosting over map servers to a performance-optimized infrastructure that allows high levels of concurrent user activity on an international scale.
• Support of Co-Creation activities: We support co-creation activities and the technical design and integration of results for the scope of the technical solutions and applications developed during the project.
• Technical support: we provide technical support for all digital tools or websites developed in the project, including ongoing App Updates and Content Management System (CMS) maintenance. 
• Design: Besides creating the project's website, we bolster the project's dissemination activities by the professional design of online media, social media teasers, posters or hand-out material.
• Knowledge transfer and workshops: we offer to hold seminars for the consortium members on how to work with these tools and on the various topics of the digital landscape - from data privacy or intellectual property rights to how online technology actually works behind the curtain.

Additional material and inputs we can provide for proposals:

• Applied digital privacy and digital ethics
• Digital intellectual property rights
• Gender dimension and Equality in digital technologies and public digital spaces
• Internet and Communication Technology background knowledge
• Dissemination support on own channels

Developing new innovative technologies for Citizen Science and Research Projects

Our main task in a Citizen Science work package in a Horizon Europe project is to provide participatory Apps and digital tools, which will be available for the public to take part in the project. To achieve an innovative and immersive integration of an interested public in the research project means that Citizens are not just "used" for data collection but also find extended functionalities ready. 

With SPOTTERON's strong focus on building communities and integrated communication features, we are prepared to push the border further and develop innovative ways to strengthen Citizen Science as a whole. Innovation is one of the key aspects in successful Horizon Europe proposals, also in terms of the scope of the technical solutions, playing a role in the project. Already in the proposal stage, we collaborate on what we plan to develop as new features and innovative technologies for the Citizen Science App or the digital tools in case of successful funding. This objective-driven approach allows us to specify milestones, deliverables, and our Personal Month (PM) budget reliably and reflect a thoughtful level of planning in the proposal's work packages. 

Open Science, Open Data

Every project can apply its preferred form of licensing to all related non-personal data - as a platform, we do not interfere with the data aspect and do not claim any ownership on data. We support Open Science and Open Data policies and have procedures to release anonymized data sets to the public. For unique creative works like photographs in user-generated Content (UGC), we apply the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license for portability and unrestricted use in terms of intellectual property rights.

Reach out for Citizen Science innovation & digital participation toolkits!

If you are interested in utilizing Citizen Science or user participation in your Horizon Europe project or other proposals for large research funding schemes, please get in contact! We are happy to assist with the proposal and join a consortium as an active member for projects with Citizen Science innovation.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Example designs for Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe Proposals

Philipp Hummer (male) is CEO and leader of the Design at SPOTTERON. He is a professional designer and founder of SPOTTERON Gmbh, with over 18 years of experience in design, web design, user interface design, media production, online media, visual design and team management.

Philipp was born in Wels, Upper Austria and was undertaking expeditions into nature already as a little kid. The term "Citizen Science" was not yet present in these times, but Philipp sent his first species observations of Green Toads (Bufo viridis) to the Natural History Museum's herpetology department when he was just 8 years old. Via postal letter -  because internet or smartphone apps were not a thing back then!

Philipp's second most favourite thing in the universe is Art and Visual Aesthetics. Drawing and painting have always been a big part of his life, sparking also his interest in visual design and media production. When the internet came to households, a love was born. Philipp built his first websites in pure handcrafted HTML when modems did make sounds. This all conglomerated in a ton of experience and practice, which is now applied at the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform.

Personal pages: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipphummer/

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Philipp-Hummer

The "Data Visualization Overlay" brings interactive data visualizations to all Citizen Science Apps on the SPOTTERON Platform. It allows for significant relationships to be illustrated with one click and presented visually, communicating complex data relationships and data-driven insights in an easy-to-understand way.

Gender Equality Plan

SPOTTERON, as a Citizen Science and participatory platform, sees it as part of its culture to commit to gender aspects and equality. In all applicable gender selections in service and software developments, we include the options for not only male and female forms of address but also for unspecified and non-binary.

In ordering genders in selection elements or other wordings, we list the female gender first to break with old established habits and increase inclusiveness for female genders. In practical design tasks and consulting projects, we notify project partners about gender equality and inclusiveness, e.g. in wordings of project content, user input option ranges, and target group considerations.

In terms of data collected about users at account creation, users can freely choose gender options and even switch account types and gender anytime without restrictions or delay. User account data is not aggregated or shared as data collection outside the system functionalities.

In our daily communication and management tasks, we always include gender equality and identity as part of our core principles. Every member of SPOTTERON is always aware that including gender diversity and equality in the platform's design decisions and communication is not only required but a collectively shared mindset. Living inclusiveness is at the core of our internal culture and daily work.

Gender diversity and inclusiveness in SPOTTERON’s online presence:

 On our platform's online channels like on social media or website, we participate actively in Pride Month by focusing on gender-related aspects and hashtags and showing rainbow colours in our official profile pictures as a direct way to join in on gender diversity and inclusiveness visibility. At all times, gender-related issues in online user interactions and comments by audiences are reported and moderated.

Work-life balance and organisational culture:

Applying the possibilities of the digital nature of our work, we offer flexible work hours and time management for all our team members. Personal needs and own work time organisation is in practice for everyone, creating an uncomplicated and respectful environment for everyone's work-life balance.

Gender balance in leadership and decision-making

Project management and partner communication are handled in a bottom-up way. Every team member is involved in the decision-making process and always ongoing communication with low organisational hierarchies. Each member is always invited to include personal gender experiences in processes to embrace gender views and diversity in the results and outcomes.

Gender equality in recruitment and career progression

When recruiting new team members, we always aim to increase gender diversity, especially supporting gender diversity in our more technical and IT-related work areas. For equally competent candidates, the female or non-binary applicant if prefered to foster gender diversity within SPOTTERON's team. One's personal gender identity has no impact on career progression decisions; careers and responsibilities are solely formed by one's skills, involvement and personal preferences.

Integration of the gender dimension into research and teaching content

As an effect of our role as consultants for Citizen Science and participatory projects, we always advise to include gender dimensions in questionnaire design, either by covering unique aspects and experiences of gender identities or always phrase content, wordings, and questionnaires elements in an inclusive way. This can influence how gender aspects are reflected in research outcomes and how participants from the various gender identities feel included on a per-project basis.

Measures against gender-based violence including sexual harassment

Due to the high level of communication and low hierarchies, we foster raising one's voice in gender-based issues or apprehension at any time. Occurrences of sexual harassment or even verbal slags are not tolerated. They can lead to the termination of the working relationship, which is also clearly stated in our work contracts for all team members.

Suppose a team member wants to reach out to the management of SPOTTERON about such a case; we have an email address in place for sending notifications about gender-based issues, violence or harassment, allowing anonymous and barrier-free reporting or problems should they occur. We know that mainly women and non-binary genders are affected by bullying or harassment online. For gender-relevant violations or harassment in the context of the applications or our online offer, you can contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This email address is only accessed and maintained by female or non-binary team members.

Also, for users and participants in Citizen Science projects on the SPOTTERON Platform, there is an anonymous reporting option in place to reach out to us for gender-related issues, feedback and reports about harassment, slurs or gender-based violence. All instances when occurring are taken seriously, and all team members of SPOTTERON are informed with procedures in place to react accordingly and without unnecessary delay.

For SPOTTERON Gmbh:
Vienna, on 22nd of July 2021,
Philipp Hummer, CEO

Many Citizen Science projects aim to collect data about many categories and have an extensive set of user input options for their data recording. While a set of limited key options can be easily implemented in a Citizen Science App manually, handling hundreds or thousands of categories can be an impossible task. Also, from a user's perspective, extensive lists of categories can be overwhelming and challenging to use. For including large amounts of selectable types, the SPOTTERON Taxonomy Service stands ready to be used by Citizen Science projects.

When a project collects data in a Citizen Science App by public participation, often there is an additional need to interpret or analyse this data in more detail. With contributions skyrocketing in a successful Citizen Science Project, this can be a time-consuming and challenging task. Especially if the data relies not only on numbers or button choices but also on images or written text, analysing or reviewing tens of thousands of data points.

catta brings science to people in an understandable and humorous way. Those who wish can participate in real research projects. catta also advises in the areas of science communication, citizen science and scientainment, and designs and implements projects.

The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) is a state corporation that manages museums, sites and monuments in Kenya. It carries out heritage research, and has expertise in subjects ranging from palaeontology, ethnography and biodiversity research and conservation. Its headquarters and the National Museum (Nairobi National Museum) are located on Museum Hill, near Uhuru Highway between Central Business District and Westlands in Nairobi. The National Museum of Kenya was founded by the East Africa Natural History Society (E.A.N.H.S.) in 1910. The Society's main goal has always been to conduct an ongoing critical scientific examination of the natural attributes of the East African habitat. The museum houses collections, and temporary and permanent exhibits. Today the National Museum of Kenya manages over 22 regional museums, many sites, and monuments across the country. 

Source: Wikipedia contributors. "National Museums of Kenya." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 19 Jan. 2021. Web. 9 Aug. 2021.

QuakeWatch Austria - an initiative of ZAMG (Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics) - involves broad sections of the population in earthquake research. The objective is to record earthquake perceptions and effects in Austria more quickly and precisely. The collected data of the Citizen Scientists support a better assessment of the hazard of future earthquakes.

Soils for Science is a Citizen Science initiative of The University of Queensland, Institute for Molecular Bioscience. Soils for Science aims to inform the public on the importance of antibiotic resistance in modern healthcare, and soil microbes as a source of next-generation antibiotics. Soils for Science provides the public with free sampling kits to collect soil samples rich in microbial biodiversity (bacteria and fungi).