Whoosh meets SCIENCE

In an age of disinformation, where people rely on social media to learn about the world, Whoosh stands for data, facts, evidence and the scientific method. We celebrate and work with those groups who dive deep into the world of innovation and studies. These are dangerous days, and we want to find useful ways to take ideas out onto the streets. We need to stand up, and fight against, the surprising threats against modernity, wisdom and proof.

And so we organise many events to show the robust nature of science and proof. How can we show the value of repeated studies that prove something works - from vaccinations to clean energy, smart mobility to healthy food?

We are asked frequently to contribute to academic papers on progressive public space, walking and health, future of food, urban psychology and well-being, and plenty more nerdy stuff.

Please write to Eugene if you would like to find ways to open up your conference, meeting or research group to a lively, social tour, party with ideas, or coffeehouse event.

Below you get a sense of the range of our collaboration with students, teachers and professionals looking at the future of various areas.

For a conference on virology – just before the pandemic – Eugene was invited to Hamburg to present a colourful end of day PowerPoint about why some ideas go viral online, and most do not (also known as stickiness). So not just about algorithms and cute cats, but also key words, humour and formats.

As part of the series of Wien Museum Pub Quiz nights, hosted by Eugene, he had to generate questions on climate change and our city. And play suitable music, which was also part of the teams’ answers. We want to gamify ideas.

Eugene occasionally teaches in the spatial-planning department of the Technical University, bringing dry theory out into the city, to see if we can recreate and prove the theories, in practise.

For BOKU, Eugene was asked to create science storytelling, with their large group of English language cell postgraduates. Using TED Talks, good photography, media articles, quizzes, science poetry slams and social media, we wanted to raise the public dialogue and start some debates.

Also for BOKU, as part of their summer school on the future of agriculture, he shows the group urban farming here.

For the WWTF annual Jury meeting for their digital prize, with big funding from the Austrian government, Eugene leads the committee on a lively, critical walk about Vienna and innovation.

For the Med Uni, he is invited each year to show them why Vienna is both the least friendly, and most liveable city.

As part of a human rights commemoration in Rathaus in December 2025, dj eugene was asked to respond to 5 elements of these fundamental rights (which are now so threatened), including digital, with songs by candlelight that could communicate something beyond words, and chose Underworld’s tune Dark and Long (Richard Hall remix) to make the theme come alive.

Ecology and climate change are the biggest challenge we face, and it is vital that we communicate them in new ways, to keep up the focus. Sadly, they are not a priority in our current crisis-fuelled atmosphere, but they should be. This is a challenge for scientists, which Whoosh takes seriously. We make a tour about Green Wien, in every sense of that word, but also tours about Vienna and Trees, and for Jane’s Walk 2024, a walk introducing six researchers and their work, to remind people of how smart and engaged Vienna is.

Eugene hosts the awards ceremony each August, as part of the Green Building Solutions, for OEAD, rewarding worldwide students who come here to explore sustainable architecture and energy.

TEDx AI is a major forum each Autumn for the future of large language models, and all the applications in our brave new world. Eugene takes participants on a tour about the influence of technology in our city (good and bad).

All ecologists need to engage with the economics and data of climate change. Eugene does not fly, or drive, or eat meat, or have a smartfone. And is deeply engaged with the uncomfortable details of what it means to avoid waste in 2026, from plastic to toilets, computers, mobility, food and cooking, fashion and heating/cooling a house. And how to avoid urban heat islands. These are all features of the tours we make.

Eugene makes a presentation at conferences on the Top 10 worst Greenwashing campaigns from big companies (banks, automobiles, dairy industry, fashion etc). It is satisfying to hear these multinationals shown up for what they really do.

Energy Cities is the largest network of progressive urban governments, on the energy transition. Eugene was invited to host their annual meeting in Heerlen, Netherlands. It is so satisfying to empower people with their own energy independence and builds resilience and community.

The FH Technikum in Brigittenau invite Eugene four times each year, to introduce their incoming students (from Mongolia, Finland, Argentina, China) to how Vienna works, and how to get the most out of our remarkable, but mysterious, home town.

In 2026, Eugene will lead a tour about the pioneer in pictographs, Otto Neurath, and how to communicate complex data with simple images. Another new walk, as part of Vienna Walking Week (our response to overtourism by showing that you can find exotic new ways of exploring your home town - #tourismforlocals), is about the Austrian School of economists, who created turbocapitalism.

For schools, we lead a tour about the the Invisible Smart City, showing the optimistic ways a well-run administration can engage citizens by opening up its data, saving waste, clever mobility and encouraging learning. It’s all about inclusive city-planning and hope.

We show thousands of planners around Seestadt each year, which is a visit into the future. And also about new models of social housing, which make other metropoli so envious.

The MA 48, our waste disposal department, are full of innovation, and much loved in the city. We show what they do, and how to avoid waste (good marketing, selling discarded furniture/books/clothes, generating heat and energy from waste, a rubbish festival).

When OEAD wanted to create a forum to explore the future of student housing in Vienna, including Helga Kromp Kolb, they invited Eugene to host the event, to refresh it. There was a particular focus on passive housing.

The Austrian Assocation of Psychoanalysts want to show how Vienna is a pioneer city in researching mental health, and invited Eugene to create a tour about how cities make people feel good or bad, and all those wild thinkers who opened up new research on sex, trauma, youth and groups. This happens on Mental Health Day, 10 October, each year, for free.

Since in Austria and the German speaking world, science is added to the end of many fields of research (political, economic, social), so almost everything we do can be judged to relate to science. Please have a look at our future events to find something which stimulates you. We create debate in public space.

All of these ideas can be presented in German or English. You can find more details about each on our walking, education and projects pages.