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Poster Short Abstract

The Israel Center for Citizen Science (ICCS), launched at the Steinhardt Museum in 2025, builds national infrastructure to connect projects, support biodiversity research and public engagement, and foster collaboration. We share ICCS journey to a hub linking science, education, and community.

Poster Abstract

Natural history museums, with their long-standing collaboration with amateur naturalists, are uniquely positioned to lead and support Citizen science initiatives. The Israel Center for Citizen Science (ICCS) was launched in 2025 at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, after five years of planning and development. The Center was established to strengthen public engagement in science and biodiversity conservation by creating a national network and infrastructure to support citizen science initiatives.

ICCS was created to address the fragmented landscape of Israeli citizen science, where diverse projects operated independently without shared infrastructure or national support. The center provides technological, scientific, and social frameworks to sustain and connect projects, enhance data quality, and broaden participation. Its foundation is built on four themes—technology, science, society, and management—developed through stakeholder engagement, needs assessments, and international best practices.

At its core, ICCS established a national biodiversity data infrastructure based on the open-source Living Atlas platform, integrating Israeli projects with global standards and repositories. It also created a catalog of over 40 projects, providing visibility, shared resources, and opportunities for collaboration. Training programs support students, project leaders, and the wider public, while the center directly facilitates flagship initiatives such as the Backyard Bird Count , and the School Nature Challenge project.

Through these efforts, ICCS bridges research, education, and community action. It serves as a model for building sustainable national networks in citizen science, ensuring that public participation contributes to scientific discovery, conservation, and societal resilience.