The European Science Advisors Forum (ESAF) is an independent, informal network of European science-based strategic advisors, led by its members. ESAF is a non-legal entity without a budget. Members must be able to provide evidence-based strategic advice to their democratic governments. Their advice should be based on the highest quality public research. ESAF members have a lot to gain from exchanging information, expertise, practices, and results. Since such an exchange is not self-evident, ESAF provides a platform and network for organizations that can operate in different systems, but share a common ground in their ambition to provide the best science-based strategic advice. ESAF has no formal advisory role (and is complementary to SAPEA in that sense), but ESAF members can join forces and provide joint advice.