FUNGI WORLD
Citizen Science & Education
October 11, 2025 — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. — Lecture Hall of the Natural History Museum Vienna
The kingdom of fungi fascinates – and at the same time challenges our thinking.
Complex ecological relationships, a dynamic research landscape, and a lack of established teaching materials make it difficult to sustainably raise awareness of fungi in education and society. But this is precisely where we come in: We combine scientific findings with creative and practical teaching formats – and address how the world of fungi can be made accessible to everyone. On October 11, we will be devoting ourselves entirely to the question of how fungal education can succeed. The focus will be on pioneering approaches from schools, universities, and citizen science. From innovative teaching methods and participatory research projects to initiatives in urban communities – this day will demonstrate how Funga is becoming an educational tool for sustainability, community, and curiosity.
An event for teachers, researchers, knowledge mediators – and for everyone who wants to make mushrooms part of a new understanding of education.
Photo: Christina Rittmannsperger
Venue
The lecture hall of the Natural History Museum Vienna is located on the ground floor of the museum building at Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna. It is accessible via the main entrance.
Program
Details about the program will follow
Speaker
Lecture: Mushrooms, soil and health in school lessons
How can complex ecological relationships such as soil health and fungal diversity be meaningfully and effectively integrated into school curriculums? Ulrich Hobusch, a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences for Agricultural and Environmental Education, addresses this question in his lecture.
He will present the "One Health Teaching Clinic" project – an initiative that aims to make socially relevant scientific topics tangible and accessible. The focus is on new didactic approaches that allow topics such as fungi, soil, and health to be integrated into classrooms in a lively way.
In addition, two student groups from Graz and Münster will report on their specific educational project. As part of a seminar, they planned, implemented, and supervised a school intervention on the topic of "Mushrooms & Soil Health" – including small research sessions in the classroom.
In this lecture, they share their concepts, materials, and results – and show how science, teaching, and social impact can be interwoven.
Lecture: A 21st Century Fungarium
The Kew Fungarium has over a million specimens spanning 200 years. Time, taxonomy, and techniques may have changed, but every one of those specimens is as valuable today as it was when originally collected. Hear how the Fungarium grows, how it is used, and how it will be used long into the future.
Lecture: Threads of Knowledge: Ethnomycology Around the World
Join Mariana Villani on a journey through the remarkable ways fungi have been used across the globe—from ancient practices to modern applications. This talk will explore the rich mycological wisdom rooted in diverse ecosystems, highlighting how fungi have supported survival, and offered sustainable solutions throughout history.
From Ötzi the Iceman's prehistoric toolkit to the knowledge of Indigenous peoples in the Americas, we'll uncover how fungi have been used as medicine, food, instruments, fire-making, materials and more. The presentation will include a live demonstration of traditional fire-starting using fungi—just as Ötzi might have done over 5,000 years ago.
Drawing on Mariana's expertise in ethnomycology, ecology, and agroecology, and informed by field research conducted around the world, this talk reveals how fungi are more than just organisms—they are cultural companions, ecological allies, and keys to a more sustainable future.
About the speaker: Mariana is a researcher and educator specializing in ethnobiology, traditional ecological knowledge, agroecology, and mycology. Her work includes collaborations with Indigenous communities in North America, fieldwork exploring the ecology and diversity of fungi in Brazil, the Touristic Mycotrails Project in Brazil's Chapada Diamantina National Park, and contributions to the Fungi Foundation's Elders Project. Since 2016, she has shared her expertise through workshops and research on agroecology and the cultural and ecological significance of fungi. She is finishing a Master's in Agroecology and Food Sovereignty in Pollenzo, Italy, and she will be pursuing a PhD at Cardiff University and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where her research will focus on the diversity, ecology, and evolution of mycelial cords and rhizomorphs.
Lecture: Mycelium Cultivating Sustainable Communities
Explore how mushrooms and mycelium can help us grow more than food—they can help us regenerate soil, reduce waste, and reconnect communities. This session dives into accessible mushroom cultivation using recycled materials, and how these practices can be brought into schools, gardens, and community spaces.
Learn how to:
- Grow edible mushrooms with low-tech, low-cost methods
- Use fungi to improve compost and soil health
- Turn waste streams into growing opportunities
- Integrate mushrooms into education and community food projects
- Use the mycelium network as a model for sustainability and connection
Whether you're a teacher, grower, or fungi enthusiast, you'll leave with practical tools and fresh ideas to cultivate change—one mushroom at a time.
Lecture: Learning with Beneficial Organisms – Insights from Practice
How can you foster ecological awareness with young children and inspire them to appreciate the hidden helpers in the soil and garden? Katharina Bauer, a teacher at the Practical Elementary School of the University of Education Lower Austria and ÖKOLOG coordinator, shares her practical experience.
As part of a project with "Find Your Beneficial Insect," she worked with elementary school children on a playful exploration of beneficial insects—from observation and creative approaches to collaborative reflection. She shares how the process was designed, which methods worked particularly well, and what she learned from the project.
A short presentation full of concrete experiences, honest learnings and valuable tips for everyone who wants to make environmental education in schools lively, relevant to everyday life and effective.
Lecture: SPOTTERON and the Mushroom Finder App – an interactive platform for citizen science and mycological observations
The SPOTTERON Citizen Science & Monitoring App Platform (www.spotteron.net) enables people to directly participate in scientific and NGO projects using interactive smartphone apps. In the Pilzfinder app, which runs on SPOTTERON, participants can contribute mushroom finds to maps, collect them digitally, and exchange ideas with the user community. Philipp Hummer introduces the Pilzfinder app and the SPOTTERON platform, and presents the collaboration between society and science, as well as the interactive science communication within the project. More about the app & downloads to get involved: https://www.spotteron.net/de/citizen science-apps/globale-community-science-projekte/pilzfinder-mykologie-app
Wolfgang Hinterdobler is a passionate natural scientist and biotechnologist. His botany studies at the University of Vienna enabled Wolfgang to conduct research at the La Gamba Tropical Station in Costa Rica. There, he investigated the components of tropical fungi that live in symbiotic relationships with plants. Fascinated by the complex interactions between fungi and plants, he continued his work at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and earned his doctorate on the topic of "Chemical Communication of Fungi" at the Vienna University of Technology.
Wolfgang aims to use this expertise to develop and implement sustainable and resource-efficient projects. By founding MyPilz, he's turned a lifelong fascination into a career.
