Earthwatch Institute

Earthwatch Institute is an international non-profit organization that was founded by Robert A. Citron as Educational Expeditions International in 1971 near Boston (USA). It is one of the largest global underwriters of scientific field research in archaeology, paleontology, marine life, biodiversity, ecosystems and wildlife. For over forty years, Earthwatch has delivered a unique citizen science model to raise funds and recruit individuals, students, teachers and corporate fellows to participate in critical field research to understand nature's response to accelerating global change. Earthwatch's work supports hundreds of Ph.D. researchers across dozens of countries, conducting over 100,000 hours of research annually.

Earthwatch's mission statement is "to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment."

Earthwatch Citizen Science Projects are peer-reviewed, Ph.D led scientific field research which give everyday citizens the opportunity to join research teams around the world to collect field data in the areas such as wildlife conservation, rainforest ecology, marine science and archaeology.

Institute

An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose.

Educational institutes

Often they are research organisations (research institutions) created to do research on specific topics. An institute can also be a professional body.

In some countries institutes can be part of a university or other institutions of higher education, either as a group of departments or an autonomous educational institution without a traditional university status such as a "university Institute". (See Institute of Technology)

The word "institute" comes from the Latin word institutum meaning "facility" or "habit"; from instituere meaning "build", "create", "raise" or "educate".

In some countries, such as South Korea and Japan, private schools are sometimes called institutes, rather than schools. In Spain secondary schools are called institutes.

Great Britain

In the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man the term "institute" is a protected word and companies or other organizations may only use the word if they are "organisations which are carrying out research at the highest level or to professional bodies of the highest standing". Furthermore, if a company is carrying on a business under a different name to the company name, that business name must comply with the Business Names Act. Use of the title "institute" requires approval from the Secretary of State. Failure to seek approval is a criminal offence.