European Citizen Science Association (ECSA)

Since 2013, ECSA has evolved from an informal network of citizen science practitioners to an international association that supports and advocates for public participation in science, in Europe. A non-profit organisation (“eingetragener Verein”) registered under German law, it is currently hosted at the Museum for Natural History in Berlin, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Research, Germany. The Executive Board is assisted in the governance of the organisation by a Board of Directors. ECSA is open to individual and institutional membership, and builds on its members’ vast expertise to promote citizen science as a tool for evidence-based policy and sustainable development. We support a strong and growing citizen science community in Europe and beyond. Specifically, ECSA serves the role of:- a European citizen science network in which all stakeholders, from any background, can come together to form a community- a central hub for existing and new regional networks and crucial part of the global network of citizen science - a link between citizen science and policy and facilitate the two-way flow of knowledge and information between citizens and policy-makers - a source of open-access tools and training materials to increase the number of citizen science practitioners and set standards for high-quality practices- a leading dissemination channel for validated, citizen-generated and high-quality data, not least for tracking progress towards the SDGs.Our mission is to mainstream citizen science in our network of citizens, politicians and policy-makers, scientists and SMEs, and beyond. Our vision is that citizens are recognised and empowered as key actors in promoting and supporting sustainable development in our world. Further, citizen science is a recognised approach to: promoting scientific literacy and the democratisation of science; increasing the societal relevance and sustainable impact of research; and improving the evidence base for environmental, biodiversity and climate change policies, in Europe and globally.