Radio science encompasses the knowledge and study of all aspects of electromagnetic fields and waves. The International Union of Radio Science (Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale), a non-governmental and non-profit organisation under the International Council for Science, is responsible for stimulating and co-ordinating, on an international basis, studies, research, applications, scientific exchange, and communication in the fields of radio science.

URSI Mission Statement
Included within the objectives are the following:

To encourage and promote international activity in radio science and its applications, for the benefit of humanity;
To encourage the adoption of common methods of measurement, and the intercomparison and standardisation of the measuring instruments used in scientific work;
to stimulate and co-ordinate studies of:
the scientific aspects of telecommunications using electromagnetic waves, guided and unguided;
the generation, emission, radiation, propagation, reception, and detection of fields and waves, and the processing of the signals embedded in them.
to represent radio science to the general public, and to public and private organisations.

Commission A: Electromagnetic Metrology
Commission B: Fields and Waves
Commission C: Radiocommunication Systems and Signal Processing
Commission D: Electronics and Photonics
Commission E: Electromagnetic Environment and Interference
Commission F: Wave Propagation and Remote Sensing
Commission G: Ionospheric Radio and Propagation
Commission H: Waves in Plasmas
Commission J: Radio Astronomy
Commission K: Electromagnetics in Biology and Medicine
A few Commissions are engaged with international projects in cooperation with other international bodies, for example with the Committee on Space Research in the project International Reference Ionosphere