Host a Local Event or Webinar During World Commons Week 2019, October 6th - 12th.

Welcome to the homepage of the IASC!

The IASC is the leading professional association dedicated to the commons. The association, founded in 1989, is devoted to bringing together multi-disciplinary researchers, practitioners, and policymakers for the purpose of improving governance and management, advancing understanding, and creating sustainable solutions for commons, common-pool resources, or any other form of shared resource.

The IASC aims to:

– encourage exchange of knowledge among diverse disciplines, areas, and resource types
– foster mutual exchange of scholarship and practical experience
– promote appropriate institutional design

In honor of Esther Mwangi

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of IASC Council member and friend, Esther Mwangi. She died on Saturday, October 5 in a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya due to complications from cancer. Esther did research on gender and land-rights inequities in relation to natural resources at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and got her PhD at Indiana University in 2003 with Elinor Ostrom. In December 2018, Esther was elected to the IASC Council. Esther was highly respected among her colleagues and a dear friend to many of us in the IASC community. She was 53 years old.

You can share your stories at Esther’s memorial website and read more about her life and research here.

Organize a local event during world commons week!

Read Our Journal

Connecting People

We organize events such as conferences and workshops, in person and online, bring scholars and practitioners together who study and/or govern shared resources. Besides biennial global conferences, we organize regional and thematic conferences and workshops, and virtual conferences.

October 6th – 12th, 2019

Knowledge Exchange

We facilitate the dissemination of knowledge via the publication of the International Journal of the Commons, and the Commons Digest. Furthermore, we collaborate with the Digital Library of the Commons, host webinars, send weekly community updates to members, and share relevant commons news on social media.

Capacity Building

We facilitate in capacity building of (young) scholars and practitioners by holding workshops on methods and knowledge domains, organize contests to communicate our scholarly work, provide resources for education, and organize network events for young scholars.