The Ministry of Science, Research and Technology has set up a desk to communicate with the public at the Department of the Earth Sciences at the IASBS. The Service Desk was set up from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm from Thursday, 4 January 2024 to Saturday, 6 January 2024 to coincide with the visit by the Iranian President to Zanjan province.

The Science Ministry Service Desk had as its members the plenipotentiary representative of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (Dr Manouchehr Rashadi, Adviser to the Minister of Science on Veterans) and the accompanying delegates (the Director General of the Office for Inspection and Response to Complaints, Dr Hamed Karami, and the Deputy Director of the Office for Inspection and Response to Complaints, Dr Ali Asghar Tayyibi-Rahani,) and was launched to speed up and facilitate the process of responding to the people of Zanjan on educational, research and technology issues and other areas of communication of universities and the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

The heads of 12 universities and research and technology centres in Zanjan province (the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), the University of Zanjan, the Payam-e Noor University of Zanjan, the Comprehensive Science-Applied Sciences University of Zanjan, the Islamic Azad University of Zanjan, Zanjan’s Technical and Vocational University, Farhangian University, the IASBS Science and Technology Park, Zanjan Province’s Science and Technology Park, the Sufi Razi Institute of Higher Education, the Saeb Abhar Institute of Higher Education, and Khormadreh’s Non-Profit Higher Education Institute of Labour) were also present at the Service Desk responding to more than 110 clients. On Friday, 5 January 2024, a coordination meeting was held and was attended by all heads of universities and research and technology institutes of Zanjan province in the main public communication hall.

On Saturday, 6 January 2024, the distinguished Minister of Science, Research and Technology, Prof Mohammad Ali Zulfigol, together with the Spokesman for the Ministry of Science and Director General of the Ministerial Office, Dr Ali Shamsipour, the Deputy Science Minister for Researcher, Dr Peyman Salehi, and the accompanying delegation paid an unannounced visit to the Public Communication Desk at the IASBS to observe the actual service processes.

The procedure put in place at the Service Desk in the IASBS included the initial reception of the applicant, face-to-face meeting with the heads or representatives of the relevant university, face-to-face meeting with the plenipotentiary representative of the Minister of Science, and finally, registration of requests, complaints, suggestions or ideas and comments in the Samed system.