Citizen science and responsible research and innovation are often mentioned in the same breath, which is not surprising since there are several commonalities. As part of a study addressing the consideration of responsible research and innovation in citizen science projects, we conducted interviews with project coordinators all over Europe. This article focusses on the results from the Austrian interviews, especially the motivation of researchers to engage members of the public in their research projects and the added value of citizen science for them. While the main motivation for researchers to conduct citizen science ranges from pure necessity to social responsibility, they see the added value for the participants mainly in the acquisition of knowledge. The interviewed Austrian researchers themselves benefit from the mutual exchange, not only as a researcher but also as a person. Although the study participants also reported that citizen science requires compromises, they generally see citizen science as an added value.