Highlights from the quarterly reports of TU Wien Bibliothek 2024
2024: Quarter 4 – OPUSH „Urban Heat Stories” wins Austrian State Prize for Climate Change Adaptation (CliA) 2024 | EOSC Focus Workshop | Donation Ernst Happel Stadium
TU Wien wins CliA - Austrian State Prize for Climate Change Adaptation 2024
The project "OPUSH – Citizen Science Pilot Urban Heat Stories," represented by future.lab TU Wien, luftdaten.at, and TU Wien Bibliothek, was awarded the Austrian State Prize for Climate Change Adaptation (CliA) in the special category for research.
This award recognizes projects that develop innovative and sustainable solutions for adapting to climate change. The "OPUSH – Citizen Science Pilot Urban Heat Stories" project impressed the jury with its practical approach to actively involving citizens in research on urban heat stress and collaboratively developing foundational knowledge for adapting to rising temperatures in cities.
As part of OPUSH, seniors, children, and young people mapped their locations in the urban environment, shared their individual experiences with heat in the city, and conducted mobile temperature measurements. The measured data were compared with the participants' personal heat perceptions to create comprehensive "Urban Heat Stories."
The results of this citizen science initiative aim to support urban planning and are already being integrated into the redesign of heavily affected urban areas, such as the Quellenplatz in Vienna. The interdisciplinary team of the OPUSH project accepted the award from Leonore Gewessler, Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, and Mag. Bernd Vogel, Managing Director of the Climate and Energy Fund, on October 16, 2024.
EOSC Focus: Workshop of project partners
On 11 December 2024, the library hosted a strategic workshop for knowledge exchange organized by EOSC Focus, opens an external URL in a new window for selected Horizon Europe projects and data spaces. The workshop focused on three key areas: mechanisms for the shared use, protection and security of data; interoperability and integration of technical infrastructure; and AI applications to improve FAIR data and data quality.
The primary goal was to explore potential synergies between EOSC and these initiatives. A secondary goal was to increase visibility of EOSC as a transversal data space. The findings of the workshop contribute to Task 3.3, which concerns cooperation with European partnerships and related initiatives, highlighting the role of EOSC in fostering global cooperation and focusing on EU priorities by integrating with EU data spaces (such as health, industry and cultural heritage).
The workshop underlines the strategic commitment of EOSC to responding to the needs of stakeholders and promoting synergies between key projects such as FAIR Impact, Blue-Cloud 2026 and the DSSC.
Participants: Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage, opens an external URL in a new window, Data Space for Language, opens an external URL in a new window, Health Data Space, opens an external URL in a new window, TITAN, opens an external URL in a new window, FAIR Impact, opens an external URL in a new window, RAISE project, opens an external URL in a new window, EOSC Beyond, opens an external URL in a new window, Blue- Cloud2026, opens an external URL in a new window, und Data Spaces Support Centre - DSSC, opens an external URL in a new window
City of Vienna donates 58 volumes of structural analysis of the Vienna Ernst Happel Stadium to TU Wien
In 2023, a comprehensive structural analysis of the Ernst Happel Stadium was conducted, with the conclusion that the heritage-listed stadium can be used at least up to the 2060s. The documentation includes 58 print and digital books. The collection was handed over by the executive city councillor for sports Peter Hacker, and Sandra Hofmann, managing director of Wiener Sportstätten Betriebsgesellschaft, to TU Wien, represented by Prof. Dr. Christian Kühn and Mag. Beate Guba of TU Wien Bibliothek, where the collection will be publicly accessible. This unique collection represents a highly valuable addition to Austria's largest scientific-technical library.
2024: Quarter 3 - EULiST Student Conference at TU Wien | Vienna Design Week participation| "Urban Heat Stories" receives Citizen Science Award 2024
EULiST Student Conference at TU Wien
From 30 June to 04 July 2024, the first EULiST Student Conference was held at TU Wien with 184 students from all EULiST member universities. The four-day programme included 24 workshops, two keynote speeches on architecture and Europe, and an international evening, as well as very popular “pitch sessions” where participants presented their projects in the space of ten minutes, supported by TEDxTU Wien organisers. The conference created a student community that embodies “innovation, empowerment and network”. TU Wien was able to demonstrate its excellent premises and its spatial closeness and direct access to the heart of Vienna. The announcement that the next edition of the conference will take place in Northern France was greeted with enthusiasm.
First participation in the Vienna Design Week
In a cooperation with the association “One Body of Water”, TU Wien Bibliothek participated in this year’s Vienna Design Week from 20 to 29 September 2024. During this time, the exhibition “Free Genie” by Regina Hügli, which takes a look at the marketing strategies of the drinking water industry, could be experienced interactively in the Data Visualisation Space Davis. The talk “Water Qualities and Water Realities” offered a public discussion about the urban water supply, discharges into the groundwater, and the water footprint of consumer goods. The discussion participants were Norbert Kreuzinger (TU Wien, Research Unit of Water Quality Management), Norbert Klicha (Wiener Wasser), Ernst Überreiter (Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management), Christina Formanek (Environment Agency Austria), Mexican-Kenyan artists’ collective Narratives of Water, and Regina Hügli (One Body of Water), who co-moderated with Lisa Marx (TU Wien Bibliothek). On 26 September 2024, interested citizens joined the information and discussion game “Sharing Water (Vienna Edition)“ to learn more about water and climate change in the urban realm.
Participative research with school pupils on heat islands receives Citizens Science Award 2024
As part of the OPUSH research project, TU Wien Bibliothek and future.lab collaborated in the pilot project “Urban Heat Stories”, which was selected for the OeAD’s Citizen Science Award 2024. Since 2015, the award has been given annually to projects strengthening citizen participation in scientific research. In collaboration with students from three Viennese schools, the topic of heat in the city was discussed and the social impacts of the urban heat island effect were studied. The first results of the school workshops were presented in TU Wien Bibliothek’s Data Visualisation Space Davis. The award ceremony will be held on 24 October 2024 at the Young Science Congress at the KPH Vienna/Krems, in the presence of the education minister, Martin Polaschek, and all participating schools. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all participating students for their enthusiastic involvement.
2024: Quarter 2 - Meeting of the Steering Committee of the EOSC Support Office Austria (SOA) | TU Wien Bibliothek's Sustainability Concept | Improving the library's ecological footprint and hand print
Steering Committee of the EOSC Support Office Austria (SOA) met in the library
The first meeting of the Steering Committee in 2024 was held at TU Wien Bibliothek with Beate Guba presiding as first speaker. Katrin Vohland was elected second speaker, and subsequently representatives of the Management Board, the Secretariat, the Synergy Team and the General Assembly reported on their activities, on the international projects EOSC Focus, Skills4EOS, OSTrails, and on the national funding programme “Kulturerbe digital”. Stefan Hanslik of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research gave insight into the current discussion of the EOSC Nodes concept. Participants agreed that cooperation between the EOSC SOA bodies had been strengthened, and further information requirements were identified. The second part of the meeting centred on prioritising activities for 2024 and targeted acquisition of new members on the basis of updated key performance indicators. The updated KPIs available online in the Austria Country Report 02/2024.
TU Wien Bibliothek’s sustainability concept as a green library now available online
As part of our strategic priority of becoming a “Green Library”, the library has created a sustainability concept (Sustainability concept on Zenodo, opens an external URL in a new window). Following the definition provided by the Environment, Sustainability and Libraries Section (ENSULIB) of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), we take into account environmental, economic and social sustainability and implement a clear sustainability agenda. Our target is to reduce total CO2 emissions in the categories energy use, material use and mobility by 100 percent (i.e. 377 tons of CO2 equ.) by the end of 2025 compared to the base year (2019) level. To this end, a roadmap to 2025 has been drawn up and usage data collected from 2019 for the categories energy use, material use and mobility. The library’s CO2 values are calculated using the "ClimCalc" carbon accounting tool provided by the Alliance of Sustainable Universities in Austria; the library’s ecological balance is improved gradually by means of targeted measures.
Various activities to improve the library’s ecological footprint and hand print
The library is working towards improving our ecological footprint and hand print in 2024 by participating in the campaigns “Wien radelt” (Vienna cycles) and “Digital Cleanup Day”. This year, library patrons’ bicycle journeys can be added for the first time. In addition, the library participates in the TU Wien Green Team within the framework of TU Wien’s strategy development process “fuTUre fit”, and networks with the Co-Creation Space TRANSFORMER, which offers a space for all age groups and interest groups to improve their understanding of climate change and particularly of the circular economy. Furthermore, library staff are initiating and implementing various social sustainability initiatives, such as collecting toner cartridges to benefit disadvantaged children and families, or distributing cloth bags to library users so that an existing resource can be reused. The library also exchanges ideas and experiences concerning sustainability with the Vienna Public Libraries.
2024: Quarter 1 - Citizen science at the TUesday Lounge | SHE goes DIGITAL | Exhibition Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach
Citizen science was the focus of the first TUesday Lounge of 2024
As a hub of knowledge and experience exchange at TU Wien, the library introduced the topic of citizen science at the TUesday Lounge. Beate Guba, director of TU Wien Bibliothek, gave an introductory keynote speech, followed by a panel discussion with the panellists Dilek Fraisl of Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES) at IIASA, Katja Mayer of the Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Vienna, Fabian Dembski of Urban Innovation Vienna and Tallinn University of Technology, and Christian Peer of the future.lab - Research Center, TU Wien. Charlotte Reiff of TU Wien Bibliothek’s service unit Networking and Innovation moderated the stimulating discussion on various aspects of citizen science and its potential for the sustainability transformation. The event met with lively interest.
Library supports “SHE goes DIGITAL”
As part of the "Initiative Digitalisierung Chancengerecht", opens an external URL in a new window for equal opportunities in digitisation, the library promotes women in technology and digitization, offering three workshops on “Data Visualisation”, “Software Carpentry”, and “Semantic technologies, knowledge graphs and large language models“. The workshops offer women the opportunity to learn digital skills and gain insights into the work of a research library. Through interaction with participants and with the workshop team, they make contacts and explore career opportunities.
Journey of a book
In February, Wien Museum opened a special exhibition on the architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, opens an external URL in a new window. One of the highlights of the exhibition is Fischer’s illustrated world history of architecture, “Entwurff Einer Historischen Architectur, opens an external URL in a new window" (A Plan of Civil and Historical Architecture) – a loan from TU Wien Bibliothek, already on view last year at Salzburg. This work is part of TU Wien Bibliothek’s rare book holdings that make the library a treasure trove of cultural importance, providing public access to valuable historical material.