About the Science Volunteer Team

Based on Taiwan's Volunteer Service Act in 2002, the National Science Council is the primary agency in charge of promoting Science Volunteerism within Taiwan. National Science Council has then tasked the National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) with planning, developing and promoting Taiwan's Science Volunteer programs.

    Our first mission is to encourage the public to participate in volunteerism related to the science field. We provide grants and consultants for volunteering programs in the various divisions under National Science Council, including humanities and social science, engineering and applied sciences, life sciences and sciences education. We especially motivate senior professionals and retired public servants, scientists and professors to devote themselves into volunteer services.

    Our second mission is to combine information technology and volunteerism, so that the power of new technologies can be applied to volunteer services and also bridge up the gap of digital divide. Thus we have applied information technology to virtual volunteering, and volunteer management, training and education.

    We are also in charge of designing and developing a mechanism, which facilitates a knowledge-based research regarding the volunteer sector, and thus advance people's recognition and understanding towards volunteers.

    Having close connections within the government and with the NGO sector, we have learned much from our friends. As to the international domain, we have been cooperating with several international organizations, including the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE), on an IAVE.ORG project and a South-east Asia Volunteer Platform.

What science volunteer have done



(1) Purple Butterfly Science Volunteer Program
    This project is co-operated by NCHC, National Taiwan Butterfly Association and several local NGOs in the overwintering butterly valley(Moulin). By motivating and encouraging our so-called "Purple Butterfly Science Volunteers" to participate in marking the migratory crow butterflies (four species of the genus Eupoea) in Taiwan during the annual two way migrations, we aim to arouse people's recognition towards this magnificent purple treasure. All the marking data collected by the volunteers can be directly input to a use-friendly database, located in our research and education website for solving the mystery of butterfly migration. One of the major aims of this long-term research is hoping to know the migration patterns and the geographical distribution of the butterflies, and also to protect their overwintering habitat. This is an exemplary project of combining science volunteers with nature conservation and information technology.

(2) IAVE.ORG Science Volunteer Program
    One positive outcome of 2003 has been the Memorandum of Understanding for the IAVE.ORG Project between IAVE, IAVE Taiwan and NCHC. In NCHC, we are very fortunate to have abundant ICT resources. But what we are even prouder is that, we have added the elements of sharing and humanities, and thus incubated the IAVE.ORG Project. NCHC’s role in this project is mainly the platform provider. We hope that, by our facilities and technicians, we can strengthen the volunteer power globally under the IAVE framework.

(3) e-sky Science Volunteer Program
    In order for its citizens to be close to information technology, the NCHC, the Hsinchu City government and a local community college have created a source for volunteers to learn about science and education. The e-sky project facilitates the Hsinchu City Public Library. In this friendly space, we integrate technology, education and entertainment, so what people in the neighborhood can learn while, have fun! The e-sky facilities are accessible to all Hsinchu citizens. We hope e-sky can serve as an example for e-learning in community.