Moderator: Negin Shiraghaei
Speakers: Alireza Kazemi, Nayereh Tohidi, Kazem Alamdari, Roja Fazaeli, Raha Bahreini, Kiaa (Kiarash) Aalipour, Parastou Forouhar, Saeed Paivandi, and Sajad Sepehri
“Shaping Tomorrow: Unveiling Our Future Initiatives” was the title of an event at the end of the first day of the International Conference on Contemporary Iranian Studies at Goethe University, Frankfurt, on August 22, 2024, during which some future programs of Iran Academia were announced.
The main part of this event was dedicated to the introduction of the establishment of the endowment program of this institution in order to stabilize and continue its educational activities, during which Prof. Nayereh Tohidi, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at California State University, Northridge, and Prof. Kazem Alamdari, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the same university, They gave a significant portion of their wealth to Iran Academia and donated $1.5 million to this newly established endowment in the first step.
During this event, a gift was presented to this academic and philanthropic couple as a token of appreciation. This gift was a valuable painting called “Butterfly”, by the famous artist Parastou Forouhar, which was presented to Nayereh Tohidi and Kazem Alamdari by the artist herself, while giving a description about this work of art, amid the enthusiasm of the participants. The full video report of this event is now available.
After 12 years of providing numerous and free scientific and educational services, now the important goal of Iran Academia is to grow this endowment and continue to attract popular support, and the support of Iranian and non-Iranian philanthropists, in order to continue educational and research efforts, university study programs and other cultural initiatives. This initiative is aimed at guaranteeing the work of this university and expand beyond it.
Therefore, we invite all those who are concerned, interested and benefactors to join the popular support campaign for this initiative and try to introduce this campaign to others and invite them to join this campaign.
History
The Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities, Iran Academia, is a citizen’s initiative that started its activity in the field of humanities and social sciences since 2012 and with tireless voluntary efforts, against the increasing violation of academic freedoms and the independence of the university institution and based on the defense of the right to free education, and continued to make significant progress in creating diverse educational and research systems:
Academia: A university study program at the master’s level with an annual admission of 150 students
AcademiX: A system of free public courses with more than 15 thousand users.
Agora: A multimedia education system with thousands of users per day.
Scientific-research publications of Iran Academia: Specialized in publishing books and scientific journals with an open and free access approach
International Conference on Contemporary Iranian Studies: A biennial gathering of veteran and young researchers
- Innovation and Research Center: A newly founded research institute with the aim of interdisciplinary cooperation.
