The American Institute of Iranian Studies (AIIrS)

The American Institute of Iranian Studies (AIIrS) is a non-profit consortium of American universities and museums created to promote academic and cultural exchange between the US and Iran. The specific objectives of AIIrS are to represent American institutions of higher education and research in the field of Iranian Studies, and to expose new generations of students and scholars to Iran and the wider Persianate world. Its purview comprises the historical Iranian world of Central Asia, the Middle East and South Asia as well as the modern political state of Iran. In the belief that person-to-person connections are essential for fostering mutual understanding, AIIrS serves as the main conduit for academic and cultural exchange between the U.S. and Iran. It is the only organization in the country dedicated to funding research in Iranian Studies. The Institute's fellowships and programs aim to create and maintain expertise on an important geographical region and interest in bi-national cooperation. Opportunities for direct contact invigorate the academic resource base and increase the depth of knowledge in the field. The Institute is managed by a Board of Trustees composed of representatives of member institutions. Additional Trustees-at-large and Advisory Committee members are elected to the Board from among distinguished scholars in the field, irrespective of institutional affiliation.

UCLA has an institutional membership held under the University of California, Los Angeles.

The institutional membership benefits include:

• Listing on the website as current institutional members
• Submitting news announcements to their newsletter