Ideas Box

What health problem should research intend to address?

What is the project about?

In a way, we’re all conducting our own research into our health – which tea soothes the gut, which flowers make our eyes water; all of this comes together to form a personal reference guide for when we really need it. But what about those personal questions for which there are no answers, neither from doctors nor from Dr Google?

When it comes to questions about health and well-being in particular, members of the public can make a crucial contribution to research with their expert knowledge. Their involvement in research is therefore becoming increasingly important: they help researchers identify new research topics, answer research questions and put the findings into practice.
Yet, particularly when it comes to deciding which health topics or questions should be researched, those affected often have little say. The Ideas Box now offers a solution: people with unresolved health problems are invited to get involved in research and submit their ideas for research to the Ideas Box.
Scientists and members of the public can then work on the submitted ideas in joint projects with the support of the LBG OIS Centre.

What is the goal of the project?

Patients have a voice and they know things that experts may not. They have had their own experiences and made their own observations, which are valuable to research. The Ideas Box gives you the opportunity to share your observations and unanswered questions with experts, in order to develop relevant recommendations for action and new research topics.

How are participants involved in the project?

As part of a large-scale crowdsourcing project, questions were collected regarding unresolved health issues, personal experiences of illness, and everyday health concerns. The ‘Ideas Box’ was available both as an online form and in the form of physical boxes at the following locations run by our partners: Natural History Museum (Vienna), Narrenturm (Vienna), Österreichische Postparkasse (Vienna), Science Center Network Wissens°raum (Vienna), Ars Electronica Center (Linz). The contributions were published to make them visible to a wider community. Furthermore, contact details could be published alongside the idea to facilitate networking between interested parties and researchers.

How are participants recruited for the project?

On the one hand, by placing suggestion boxes on the premises of our partners, and on the other hand, digitally via an online form.

Project lead

Thomas Palfinger

vqrraobk@yot.np.ng

Adis Serifovic

vqrraobk@yot.np.ng

Cooperation partners

Locations of the physical suggestion box:

• Natural History Museum, Burgring 7, 1010 Vienna
• NHM Narrenturm, Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Vienna
• Austrian Post Office Savings Bank, Georg-Coch-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna
• Wissens°raum, Science Center Network Association, Reinprechtsdorfer Straße 1c, 1050 Vienna
• Ars Electronica Center, Ars-Electronica-Straße 1, 4040 Linz