International Day of Engagement in Science for Sustainable Development
Next: November 27, 2026
Science is for everyone. Join in.
The story
Where it comes from
This is one of UNESCO's newest days. Ukraine proposed it at UNESCO's Executive Board in April 2025, and the General Conference proclaimed it at its 43rd session in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, later that year. The date is the birthday of the Ukrainian scientist Borys Paton and the day the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine held its first General Assembly in 1918. UNESCO frames it around science as a global common good and the part everyone can play in it.
How it's celebrated
UNESCO invites governments, schools, communities and individuals to hold public events, science festivals and exhibitions, to join citizen-science and community research, and to start conversations between scientists and the public. Because the day is so new, its customs are still forming, so the simplest way to mark it is to take part: count birds for a survey, log the rainfall, or ask a researcher what they are working on.
Did you know
- Borys Paton, whose birthday sets the date, led Ukraine's Academy of Sciences from 1962 until his death in 2020 at the age of 101.
- The Samarkand session that proclaimed the day was the first UNESCO General Conference held outside Paris since 1985.
- The day supports UNESCO's International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development, which runs from 2024 to 2033.
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