The Wisconsin Council on Undergraduate Research (WisCUR) provides leadership to advance, enhance and expand undergraduate research, scholarly and creative activities (URSCA) in Wisconsin in order to prepare graduates who can adapt to and innovate for the challenges of the future. The roots of the organization stretch back to 1999 when the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse hosted the first of what became annual UW System Symposia for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity.

Over the last decades, a strong collaboration among the leaders of programs at all the University of Wisconsin System universities has led to annual meetings where innovative collaborations fostering new research opportunities have been developed. In 2010, the organization received a grant from the national Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) for an NSF-funded series on Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research, and in 2013, with support from a UW-System Growth Agenda Grant, WisCUR was formally created with an elected Executive Committee.

The goals of the organization include:

1. Increasing the number, diversity, and disciplinary breadth of students, faculty, and staff participating in undergraduate research;
2. Developing and disseminating strategies for evaluating undergraduate research program success;
3. Creating a sustainable community to advocate for the research, educational, and broader impacts of undergraduate research;
4. Facilitating collaborative relationships among Wisconsin institutions to support undergraduate research programs across the state;
5. Continuing to develop a sustainable structure for WisCUR and its activities;
6. And contributing to the national conversation about the importance of undergraduate research.

The activities of the organization include:

1. An annual legislative outreach day at the Capitol in Madison, WI. Originally called Posters in the Rotunda, echoing the national Posters on the Hill event sponsored by CUR, the event in recent years has been known as Research in the Rotunda;
2. An annual state-wide meeting of undergraduate research program leaders where collaborations and new programmatic developments are shared;
3. And an annual UW-System Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity where students from across the state can share their research results. Hosts of the System Symposium since 1999 have been:

1999 UW-La Crosse
2000 UW-La Crosse
2001 UW-Eau Claire
2002 NCUR hosted by UW-Whitewater
2003 UW-Eau Claire
2004 UW-Oshkosh
2005 UW-Oshkosh
2006 UW-Stout
2007 UW-Stout
2008 UW River Falls
2009 NCUR hosted by UW-La Crosse
2010 UW-River Falls
2011 UW-Parkside
2012 UW-Parkside
2013 NCUR hosted by UW-La Crosse
2014 UW-Milwaukee
2015 UW-Milwaukee
2016 UW-Stevens Point
2017 UW-Stevens Point
2018 UW-Green Bay
2019 UW-Green Bay
2020 UW-Whitewater (cancelled due to COVID-19)
2021 UW-Whitewater
2022 UW-Whitewater
2023 NCUR hosted by UW-Eau Claire