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The European Commission and the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research & Technology are co-hosted a two-day scientific & research event in Tehran to pave the way for expanding Iran-European Union (EU) cooperation between higher education institutions, research institutes and other organisations through the EU's higher education and research and innovation programmes, Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020.

This initiative follows the joint statement agreed between EU HR/VP Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohamad Javad Zarif, of 16 April 2016 on EU-Iran bilateral cooperation.

Dr George Bonas, Managing Director of Ceriss addressed the keynote speech on day one, titled "Do's and Don'ts for a successful Horizon 2020 application", in the frame of the MERID project.

Among the high-level Iranian representatives who attended the event were H. E. Dr Hossein Salar Amoli, Acting Minister for International Scientific Cooperation; H. E. Dr  Mohsen Asadi Lari, Acting Minister for International Scientific Cooperation of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education; H.E Ali Morteza Birang, Deputy for International Cooperation of the Office of Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology and H. E. Dr Mojtaba Shariati Niasar, Deputy for Education, from the Ministry of Science, Research & Technology, who were joined by a number of Iranian university rectors and vice rectors.

European Commission participants included high-level officials from its Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, the EU Joint Research Centre and the European Research Council Executive Agency. They were joined by rectors, vice rectors and representatives of higher education institutions from 21 European countries for the two-day event.

The event covere various topics in research and innovation and higher education. The first day focused on higher education in science, technology and research and opportunities available under the Horizon 2020 programme. This included thematic workshops on different topics, as well as mobility grants for researchers such as the European Research Council grants and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

The second day was dedicated to exchanging ideas and best practices, as well as exploring the opportunities for Iran-EU cooperation between higher education institutions, including under the European Union's flagship education programme Erasmus+. 

The EU Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020, to be published in October this year, will provide Iran-EU  research and innovation communities numerous opportunities for collaboration. This will pave the way for ongoing science, technology and higher education cooperation between the two sides with improved mutual understanding.