SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS SCHUTZ & PARTNER GMBH

Their core work

Science Communications Schütz & Partner is an Austrian science communication agency that specializes in translating research into formats accessible to general audiences. Their core work involves designing and running public engagement activities — Science Slams, citizen science workshops, and participatory events — that bring research out of institutions and into public life. In EU projects, they function as the outreach and communication arm, handling the public-facing layer that most research consortia lack internally. Their scope spans STEM education, cultural heritage storytelling, and the intersection of arts with scientific inquiry.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

With only two projects separated by roughly two years, their evolution is narrow but visible. Early work under Sci4all (2018-2019) used cultural heritage as one of the entry points for engaging the public with science — heritage sites and contexts as a bridge to research topics. By Forschung begreifen (2020-2021), cultural heritage dropped out and was replaced by arts and research as the connecting frame, suggesting a deliberate move toward more contemporary and creative engagement formats. The core vocabulary — Science Slams, workshops, citizen science, general public — stayed identical across both periods, confirming a stable specialism with modest thematic evolution in how they frame scientific content for audiences.

They appear to be moving away from heritage-anchored communication toward a broader arts-and-research framing, which positions them for a wider range of outreach partnerships beyond history and archaeology contexts.

How they like to work

They have never coordinated an H2020 project — both participations were as consortium partners, which is consistent with their role as specialist communication providers brought in to handle public engagement within projects led by research institutions. Their consortium footprint is minimal: 5 unique partners across a single country, suggesting they work in small, tightly scoped partnerships rather than large pan-European networks. For a potential partner, this means they are likely to be a focused specialist contributor rather than a network hub or consortium driver.

Their H2020 network is very small — 5 unique consortium partners, all within Austria — giving them a strictly local collaboration footprint. There is no evidence of cross-border partnerships in the available data.

What sets them apart

In a research consortium, most partners bring technical or scientific depth; Science Communications Schütz & Partner brings the opposite — the ability to make that science legible and engaging to non-expert audiences. Their specific experience with Science Slams as a format is a differentiator, as this is a niche production skill (event management, coaching, public performance) that few academic or industrial partners possess. For consortia applying to MSCA or CSA calls with mandatory dissemination and public engagement components, they offer a ready-made communication function rather than one improvised by researchers.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Sci4all
  Their largest project by EC funding (EUR 17,500) and the one that established their core H2020 identity — combining Science Slam, citizen science, and cultural heritage outreach under a single public engagement umbrella.
• Forschung begreifen
  Notable for its explicit framing of understanding science as the goal ('Understanding Science and Research'), and for marking a thematic shift toward arts-and-research as their communication lens.