The IK Workshop Society was launched on 22 November 2012, during an idea seminar held at the Swedish Parliament House in Stockholm. It was created and is run as part of the mission pursued by The IK Foundation since 1988, namely to promote Natural & Cultural History.

The IK Workshop Society is a truly unique phenomenon, in some respects an experiment with inspiring long-term goals aligned with its motto “Sharing Observations to Understand Planet Earth.”

While we acknowledge that technical and editorial mistakes can happen, we sincerely appreciate your efforts to let us know about them.

We also warmly welcome your ideas and perspectives on how we can improve and further develop the work and the site.

Every project has a dedicated committee to develop the work. Departments within the IKWS are led by a Director responsible for research and development, while overall responsibility rests with the Head of The IK Foundation.

Our site is secure and verified, using the foremost digital cryptographic protocols to guarantee the highest possible user security and communication.

Where possible, we have tried to ensure that these web-based information sources are accessible on as many different digital systems as possible, whilst maximising security for both the user and our servers.

The IKWS site is hosted in an extremely resilient and eco-friendly cloud-based environment, maintained by Infomaniak in Switzerland. All website traffic is scanned by the Sucuri service based in the United States to protect and secure this website and your data.

The IK Workshop Society is part of The IK Foundation and therefore operates in the public interest and on a not-for-profit basis. Our mission is to foster a deep, enduring understanding of our shared planet — its Natural and Cultural history.

As a wholly independent, not-for-profit organisation without public funding, the project’s finances rely on its own resources, scientific grants, philanthropy, and donations — with crowdfunding driven by quality and trust.

Without such support, our work would not be possible. If you are inspired to contribute, we invite you to explore further in THE DONATION ROOM or to contact IK directly.

The IK Foundation and the IKWS have a long tradition, dating back to the 1980s, of collaborating with leading subject specialists and researchers in the fields we work in. It is an advantage that participants are comfortable with both practical and theoretical approaches, and that you adopt an interdisciplinary view of the projects we run. In addition, it is important to understand that we never see a project as part of a career; we deal only with facts and research.

The choice of participants has often developed organically when we initiate various projects; the world is filled with knowledgeable people and organisations.

The oldest department is iLINNAEUS, which started in 2012, followed by iTEXTILIS the year after, in 2013. The newest division is iBIRDSEYE, which was founded in 2018. From each department, new projects and enterprises are launched, which, as far as possible, are reported in both digital and printed publications — and sometimes in films and exhibitions.

iFellowship is an associateship that enables interested individuals and organisations to become part of IKWS by taking part, contributing, and sharing their knowledge across the subject areas run within IKWS.

The iFellowship costs nothing and is open to all individuals over 18 years of age and to organisations, whether as an individual or an organisation. An application is required to become an iFellow.

This is part of what IKWS and The IK Foundation stand for, because deep and long-term knowledge in Natural and Cultural History is a democratic right.

Full and free access when signed in to The IK Workshop Society’s iFacts, iIndex, iBooks, iMaps, iProjects, iLearning and iMagazine.

Download observation data from our Field Stations, etc. Opportunity, within the framework of The IK Workshop Society, to ADD KNOWLEDGE or TELL US YOUR STORY in the form of text, pictures and sound, which will be an important part of the long-term work to understand Planet Earth.

Furthermore, iFellows receive UNIQUE DISCOUNTS if they wish to buy books, pictures or prints from BOOKS & ART.

Finally, iFellows also receive updates, to a level they themselves select, via email and chosen social networks, and sometimes also printed information from The IK Foundation that is sent by post — never from a third party. And a personal and secure Logbook.

You must be over 18 years old, be interested in Natural and Cultural history, and provide a correct mailing address, email, etc. That’s all!

Note, however, that each application is carefully checked by IK, and an application can be denied if the information you provide is incorrect.

You do not need to be an iFellow to support IKWS projects financially. Everyone is welcome to do so, most easily by visiting and reading about our various ongoing crowdfunding projects in THE DONATION ROOM, or by contacting IK directly.