International Science Council


The International Science Council is an international non-governmental organization that unites scientific bodies at various levels across the social and natural sciences. The ISC was formed with its inaugural general assembly on 4 July 2018 by the merger of the former International Council for Science and the International Social Science Council, making it one of the largest organisations of this type.
Daya Reddy, mathematician, served as the ISC's inaugural President. Sir Peter Gluckman, pediatrician, biomedical scientist, and science-policy expert, was elected President in October 2021. Other ISC's inaugural Officers elected for the term of 2018–2021 were Elisa Reis, Jinghai Li, Renée van Kessel, and Alik Ismail-Zadeh. Until February 2022, Heide Hackmann served as the Council's CEO. In 2023, Salvatore Aricò was elected Chief Executive Officer.

Activities

The Council convenes and mobilizes the international scientific community on issues of major scientific and public importance. Activities focus on three areas of work:
  • Stimulating and supporting international scientific research and scholarship, and communicating science that is relevant to international policy issues;
  • Promoting the ability of science to contribute to major issues;
  • Defending the free and responsible practice of science.
The Council is involved in co-sponsorship of a number of international research programmes, networks and committees.
The Council awards the Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research.
The Council's present activities are guided by the Action Plan 2022-2024: Science and Society in Transition. At the heart of the Action Plan is a selection of projects and programmes that are relevant to all scientific fields and all parts of the world.

Structure

The Council is governed by its Governing Board and is advised by a number of advisory bodies in thematic areas such as space, polar, climatic, and data research. It is headquartered in Paris with a regional office in Colombia. The Officers of the Governing Board are currently
Peter Gluckman,
Motoko Kotani,
Anne Husebekk,
Salim Abdool Karim, and
Sawako Shirahase.
The ISC's next assembly is scheduled to be held in Muscat in 2025.

Members

As of 2025, the International Science Council has 131 member organizations, 43 member unions and associations, and 23 affiliated members.

Member unions and associations

National members

Transnational members

A subset of ISC dealing with Earth and space sciences forms the GeoUnions network:
  • International Astronomical Union
  • International Cartographic Association
  • International Geographical Union
  • International Union of Quaternary Research
  • International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
  • International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
  • International Union of Geological Sciences
  • International Union of Speleology
  • International Union of Soil Sciences
  • International Union of Radio Sciences
The ISC GeoUnions partially overlap with the UN-GGIM Geospatial Societies.

Former members

Since 2024, there are members that have departed from the Council:

Member unions and associations