The Institute for the Research and Improvement of Social Sciences (IRISS; reg numbers VO/0681 and LPA-41) is a Malta-based independent, non-profit civil society research institute with an exclusive focus on the social sciences. It was formally established as a distinct legal personality in June 2012, following the gradual setting up of its informal structures in the preceding decade.
The IRISS’s main objectives are to:
- enhance knowledge through seminars, workshops and active participation in learning programmes;
- raise public awareness about the social sciences, including political studies, social psychology, sociology, economics and anthropology, and their importance in understanding and improving the world we live in;
- encourage the advancement of scientific knowledge in the social sciences through scholarly breakthroughs;
- encourage the development of new tools and theories in the social sciences with a view to widening the real-world applicability of the social sciences;
- compete for public (mostly EU) Funding in the social sciences area.
