CTBTO science on display at Lower Austria Research Festival 2025

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) took part in the Lower Austria Research Festival on 10 October 2025 at Palais Niederösterreich in Vienna. The event brought together more than 80 research institutions and organizations for a celebration of science, technology and discovery. 

Located in Vienna’s first district, Palais Niederösterreich offered a striking setting where Baroque architecture met modern technology.  

In the Landtagssaal, the CTBTO booth drew interest from visitors eager to learn how the Organization detects nuclear test explosions worldwide. Families, students, educators and the occasional tourist explored interactive demonstrations, including the OmniGlobe, a three-dimensional spherical display that visualises the global verification regime. The model shows how data from over 300 monitoring facilities around the world travels to Vienna. 

CTBTO experts explained the four monitoring technologies that make up the International Monitoring System (IMS): seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide. Staff also described how this data is collected and analysed at the International Data Centre (IDC), highlighting the broader civil and scientific applications such as earthquake and tsunami warning, and contributions to climate and atmospheric research. 

Staff from the On-Site Inspection (OSI) Division guided visitors through a virtual OSI exhibit available on iPads at the booth. Based on the version presented at the Science and Technology Conference (SnT2025), the interactive display took participants on a virtual tour of a base of operations and search zones. It also introduced the documentation and specialised equipment used in the application of inspection techniques during an OSI, offering visitors a clear view of how science and field operations work together to verify the Treaty. 

“Can anybody have access to the data? That was the most interesting question I was asked. I think this is a good event with a lot of young people… Maybe someone among them will work for us one day, or for the UN globally,” said Lisa Ernst, Documentation Officer at OSI. 

Many visitors expressed particular interest in how scientists distinguish between natural events and man-made explosions. Others were impressed by the precision of the CTBTO’s global monitoring network and the way it links data from some of the most remote areas of the planet to the Organization’s headquarters in Vienna. 

One visitor from Germany said, “When I come here, I can’t see everything, but what I do see feels directly connected to the world around us.” 

“We learned a lot about biology, chemistry, and history at the booths. It was really fun. There were so many interesting things to see and do,” said 12-year-old Laura Sedetka. 

The festival, which ran from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., offered an opportunity to connect directly with the public in both English and German. School groups, university students and families moved through the palace’s exhibition halls, visiting stands that showcased everything from how crows crack nuts and what fossils can reveal about ancient life, to the role of artificial intelligence in art history.  

First held in 2017, the Lower Austria Research Festival (Forschungsfest Niederösterreich) takes place every two years and has grown into one of the region’s major public science events. The CTBTO has been a regular participant, appearing in 2019, 2022 and 2023, and once again in 2025.