European Council of Skeptical Organisations


The European Council of Skeptical Organisations is an umbrella of skeptical organisations in Europe.

Goals

Founded on 25 September 1994, the ECSO aims to co-ordinate activities of European organisations and individuals that aim at critically investigating pseudoscientific statements and claims regarding observations of paranormal phenomena, and to make the results of its investigations known to the broad public. It means to continue the series of European skeptical congresses that preceded its foundation and supports a biennial congress and a symposium every other year.
The Charter of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations states that it strives

1) To protect the public from the promulgation of claims and therapies which have not been subjected to critical testing and thus might pose a danger to them.

2) To investigate by means of controlled tests and experiments such extraordinary claims which are on the fringe of or contradict current scientific knowledge. In particular this applies to phenomena commonly identified as "paranormal" or "pseudoscientific". However no claims, explanations or theories will be rejected in advance of objective evaluation.

3) To promote public policy based on good practice in science and medicine.

The Charter was signed by Amardeo Sarma, Michael Howgate, Miguel Angel Sabadell, Paul Kurtz, Tim Trachet, Arlette Fougnies and Cornelis de Jager.

Structure

Board of directors

Cornelis de Jager served as first president until 2001, when he was replaced by Amardeo Sarma, who in turn was succeeded by Gábor Hraskó. Since 2017 the president has been Claire Klingenberg. As of September 2019, the ECSO board is composed as follows:
The ECSO brings together the following skeptic groups:
Local nameEnglish nameAbbrev.FoundedRegion servedNotes
Alternativa Racional a las Pseudociencias – Sociedad para el Avance del Pensamiento CríticoRational Alternative to Pseudoscience – Society for the Advancement of Critical ThinkingARP-SAPC1986Founding member.
Association for Skeptical EnquiryAssociation for Skeptical EnquiryASKE1997
Association française pour l'information scientifiqueFrench Association for Scientific InformationAFIS1968Member since 2001.
Comitato Italiano per il Controllo delle Affermazioni sulle PseudoscienzeItalian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the PseudosciencesCICAP1989
Comité belge pour l'Analyse Critique des parasciencesBelgian Committee for the Critical Analysis of ParasciencesComité Para1949Serves Wallonia and Brussels. Founding member.
Círculo EscépticoSkeptical CircleCE2006
Föreningen Vetenskap och FolkbildningScience and Popular Enlightenment / Swedish Skeptics AssociationVoF1982
Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von ParawissenschaftenSociety for the Scientific Investigation of ParasciencesGWUP1987 D-A-CHBased in Roßdorf, Germany. Founding member.
Irish Skeptics SocietyIrish Skeptics SocietyISS2002
Klub Sceptyków PolskichPolish Skeptics ClubKSP2010Member since 2017.
Observatoire ZététiqueZetetic ObservatoryOZ2003
Skepsis rySkepsisSkepsis1987
Skeptiker Schweiz – Verein für kritisches DenkenSwiss Skeptics – Association for Critical ThinkingSkeptiker2012
Stichting SkepsisSkepsis FoundationSkepsis1987Founding member.
Studiekring voor de Kritische Evaluatie van Pseudowetenschap en het ParanormaleStudy Circle for the Critical Evaluation of Pseudoscience and the ParanormalSKEPP1990Serves Flanders and Brussels. Founding member.
Szkeptikus TársaságHungarian Skeptic SocietySzT2006
Vereniging tegen de KwakzalverijAssociation against QuackeryVtdK1881No formal membership yet.
Český klub skeptiků SisyfosCzech Skeptics Club SisyfosSisyfos1995

Furthermore, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, whose founder and long-time chairman Paul Kurtz was actively involved its formation, and the Israel Skeptics Society are associate members of the ECSO.

European Skeptics Congress

European Skeptics Congresses, in which skeptical organisations from many different European countries participate, have been held ever since 1989. The conferences are often held in the month of September, and may last from two up to four days. The ECSO was formed at the 6th ESC on 25 September 1994 in Ostend, Belgium. Since its foundation, the ECSO co-ordinates in the organisation of new ESCs that take place every other year, and is hosted by a different member organisation each time. Skeptical organisations that are non-ECSO members may also send their delegations. Past ESCs have been:
EventDateCityCountryNotes
1st European Skeptics Congress5–7 May 1989Bad Tölz
2nd European Skeptics Congress10–11 August 1990Brussels
3rd European Skeptics Congress4–5 October 1991Amsterdam
4th European Skeptics Congress17–19 July 1992Saint-Vincent
5th European Skeptics Congress29–31 August 1993KeeleTheme: "Science for Life: Health, Medicine and Well-Being". Organised by the UK Skeptics.
6th European Skeptics Congress23–25 September 1994OstendTheme: "Science, Pseudoscience and the Environment". ECSO formed.
7th European Skeptics Congress4–7 May 1995Roßdorf
8th European Skeptics Congress4–7 September 1997A Coruña
9th European Skeptics Congress17–19 September 1999MaastrichtHosted by Stichting Skepsis
10th European Skeptics Congress7–9 September 2001PragueTheme: "Rise and Development of Paranormal Beliefs in Eastern Europe"
11th European Skeptics Congress5–7 September 2003London
12th European Skeptics Congress13–15 October 2005BrusselsTheme: "Pseudoscience, Alternative Medicine and the Media"
13th European Skeptics Congress7–9 September 2007DublinTheme: "The Assault on Science: Constructing a Response" 100+ attendees.
14th European Skeptics Congress17–19 September 2010Budapest
15th European Skeptics Congress22–25 August 2013StockholmTheme: "ESCape to Clarity!"
16th European Skeptics Congress10–13 September 2015LondonOrganised by Association for Skeptical Enquiry and Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit
17th European Skeptics Congress22-24 September 2017Wrocław"Where great minds meet" Organised by Klub Sceptyków Polskich and Český klub skeptiků Sisyfos
18th European Skeptics Congress30 August - 1 September 2019Ghent"The Joy of Skepticism" Organised by SKEPP and Comité Para

Other

, who was then President of ECSO, stated in a 2015 interview that some goals of ECSO are to facilitate communication between the member groups; organise the regular conferences, and keep track of the active leaders for the various European groups. Sometimes a leader or a whole group will "disappear", and some groups are still active but with new leaders; it is important to "establish networks". At the 2015 conference held in London, Hraskó felt that he had learned a lot about organising from the UK skeptic groups. They operate differently than the continental Europeans, which tend to be one group that runs everything. The UK groups are all independent and more grassroots, but they end up working together on big conferences and projects. The 2017 conference "hopefully will be with the Polish and Czech skeptics". Hraskó stated that the Czech skeptics disappeared for some time, and he hopes that they have re-organised and they and the Polish skeptics will formalize the plans for the 2017 conference. This was achieved with the Polish Skeptics’ Club in cooperation with the Czech Skeptics’ Club Sisyfos organising the 17th biannual European Skeptics Congress 2017 in Wrocław, Poland. They were denied access to their initial venue on religious grounds, then they changed venue to the Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics at the University of Wrocław. The ECSO met at the end of the conference and new leadership was elected. Claire Klingenberg took over as president from Gábor Hraskó. In an interview with Eran Segev for the Skeptic Zone podcast, Klingenberg said that the conference “went great … quite productive and stimulating.” When Segev congratulated her on her new role as president of ECSO, he asked her what her top priority for ESCO was. Her answer was, “make ECSO important … it has to be more relevant, more influential … and seen as a partner not just with European skeptics, but with organizations all over the world.”
Catherine de Jong stated that having an organization overseeing the entire European skeptic groups is helpful to disseminate information when an alt med lecturer is planning a European tour. She gave the example of faith healer Peter Popoff being one who planned a tour of Europe. The UK skeptic Michael Marshall was able to contact the ECSO, who in turn were able to notify all the leaders of the other groups. They were able to share information and plan how to handle the events.
András Gabor Pinter reported from the 2019 conference in Belgium that they heard presentations about investigating psychics, the anti-vaccination movement, GMOs, and nuclear power. "Energy policies should be driven by science and as skeptics that’s what we advocate, after all."

Awards

During the 6th World Skeptics Congress, co-sponsored by the ECSO, GWUP and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, the ECSO presented the "Outstanding Skeptics Award" to Wim Betz and Luigi Garlaschelli "in recognition of dedication and outstanding contributions in promoting science and investigating extraordinary claims". Simultaneously, the CSI presented Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst with the "In Praise of Reason Award" "in recognition of distinguished contribution to the use of critical inquiry, scientific evidence, and reason in evaluating claims to knowledge".