AIS Welcomes Iranian Scholars Chapter as Newest Community

AIS is excited to welcome the Iranian Scholars Chapter of the Association for Information Systems (IRAIS) to the AIS community.

IRAIS serves as a platform for Iranian scholars across the globe to connect, collaborate, discuss research ideas, receive friendly feedback, and share knowledge in different areas such as research and teaching methods. The chapter also seeks to promote engaged scholarship in our community by inviting Iranian IT practitioners to share their expertise in managerial and technical areas.

 “Iranian scholars are a diverse group of different ethnicities such as Persian, Azeri, Kurd, Lor, Gilak, and Baloch with different beliefs. Yet, we all share a unifying identity and face many similar challenges,” said IRAIS founding president, Kambiz Saffarizadeh. “It was natural that many of us felt the need to have a home within AIS.”

IRAIS has five goals for their chapter including: 

1. Awareness: Reaching out to Iranians in the IS field and introduce IRAIS.
2. Recruitment: Recruiting new members to expand the body of the chapter. 
3. Hold research presentation sessions: Inviting Iranian scholars to present their latest and most interesting research to our members. 
4. Connection between industry and academia: Inviting prominent Iranians in the IT industry to share their experiences.  
5. Professional development: Supporting current Iranian doctoral students and junior faculty (e.g., presenting research in progress or job talk to receive feedback from volunteer faculty members). 

IRAIS is represented by Kambiz Saffarizadeh as President, Nargess Tahmasbi as Vice President, Mahdi Najafabadi as Secretary, and Saman Bina as Treasurer. 

To learn more about IRAIS and to join, please visit the IRAIS website or email membership@aisnet.org.