Earthwatch Institute

Description

Earthwatch Institute is an international environmental charity that connects volunteers with scientists to conduct environmental research.

It was founded in 1971 as Educational Expeditions International and later renamed Earthwatch. It supports PhD-led research field projects on climate change, biodiversity, wildlife, marine life, archaeology and paleontology, using a participatory science model once called citizen science. Volunteers, students, teachers and corporate employees pay to join expeditions, providing funding and a workforce for the research.

Earthwatch has fielded more than a thousand research projects across over a hundred countries, producing peer-reviewed publications and informing hundreds of environmental policies and wildlife management plans. It also runs its own programs, including Operation Healthy Air, an air quality monitoring initiative, and Global Pollinator Watch, which engages the public in recording pollinator observations. Its Girls in Science program gives high school students the chance to work alongside women scientists on environmental data collection.

The organization is a global body with a US headquarters in Massachusetts and additional offices in the United Kingdom, Australia, India and Japan, working with people in nearly 30 countries.