Groups

ABOUT INTEREST GROUPS/ OFFICES

All around the world, thousands of scientists are making the best of their efforts to find solutions for scientific problems in their field of specialty, in order to make the universe a more befitting host for all mankind. We believe that our lives are too short, while once we learn some things, we realize that we are too old to do some things! Therefore, sharing the experiences of top senior scientists with talented juniors could be possible in Interest Groups. USERN paved the way toward this glorious aim by providing the opportunity to establish various research and educational Interest Groups within the network. Individuals who are interested in joining one of the USERN Interest Groups (UIGs), can simply search the relevant field on the website (https://usern.tums.ac.ir/interest group) and directly send their request to the available email address of the UIG.

USERN’S VISION

We envision a reliable network of universally validated resources including ideas, facilities, human, financial, and educational resources in order to launch and facilitate authentic, ethical, and professional scientific research intended to improve human life.

USERN’S MISSION

Our mission is to provide scientific and technical infrastructure in order to universally:

1. Validate ideas, facilities, human, financial, and educational resources and determine their scientific credibility and reliability

2. Classify and grade ideas, facilities, human, financial, and educational resources

3. Improve ideas, facilities, human, financial, and educational resources

4. Connect and share ideas, facilities, human, financial, and educational resources considering their scope and their grades and establish their collaboration

5. Allocate facilities, human, financial, and educational resources to ideas with the most importance for the improvement of human life

BENEFITS OF ESTABLISHING A UIG

1. Being a part of a transdisciplinary network in the context of science without borders

2. Exchange of experiences and ideas between experts and junior researchers

3. Promoting hopefulness, self-confidence, and effort-value among young researchers

4. A voluntary activity in promoting universal peace in the scientific world

5. Becoming familiar with different tastes and views based on different cultural and economic aspects

6. Creating a scientific brand

7. Opportunity to participate in an efficient teamwork

8. Benefiting from USERN External Publicity for the promotion of scientific activities

9. Co-publication of articles and book chapters

10. Contribution to international scientific events

ESTABLISHMENT OF A UIG

A. Requirements

- Each Interest Group within USERN is established by a USERN member who meets the criteria of being a founder.

- USERN members who are eligible to be a founder can write a proposal titled "UIG Establishment Proposal" and send their proposal to the available email address of the UIG to develop an Interest Group affiliated with USERN.

- A UIG could be founded by 1 or a maximum of 2 eligible USERN members.

- The Interest Group title or its abbreviation must not be the same as any other previously established UIG. The title must be relevant to the scope and activities. Moreover, it should not only represent the field or the scope but also it needs to contain a word such as “Interest Group”, etc. indicating an organized body.

- The Title and Abbreviation are not changeable after the establishment.

- The title of the Interest Group in the local language (e.g., Farsi) should be mentioned in the application form.

B. Positions

- Founder:

Faculty members with expertise and background related to the Interest Group’s scope and must meet at least 1 criterion mentioned below.

Required Criteria:

• Published Scopus-indexed papers & book chapters ≥ 50

• OR Citations ≥ 100

• OR H index ≥ 10

Note: The above-mentioned criteria are necessary but not sufficient. An early assessment by the USERN Administrative Team and a final decision by the Advisory Board determine the eligibility of the founder to establish the UIG.

Note: If a person applies for the establishment of an Interest Group as a founder and doesn’t meet the mentioned academic criteria, but is elite in other areas, the USERN External team has the right to review the mentioned person’s request and make a final decision.

- Managing Director:

A USERN member who is responsible for managing the Interest Group’s activities. Only one managing director must be introduced.

Required Criteria:

• Nomination by the Interest Group Founder

• Respecting the Professional and ethical aspects

• Interview

Note: In case of any agreement for changing the managing directors, an official request must be submitted to the USERN Administrative Team by the founder. The request will be assessed by the team and the newly introduced managing director needs to be interviewed and confirmed by the team.

- Supervisor(s):

USERN members who are faculty members and can support or supervise the Interest Group’s activities. Introducing one supervisor is NOT necessary for establishing a UIG and the position is optional.

Note: The founder must contact the faculty member and she/he must accept to be supervisor before sending the application Google Form to the USERN Administrative team.

If the founder is a faculty member, he/she could be a supervisor as well.

There is no limit to the number of supervisors, and in the future, more faculty members could be invited by the Interest Group managing team to expand the Interest Group.

- Supporting Advisor:

A member of the USERN Advisory Board (https://usern.tums.ac.ir/Info/Board) who has agreed to support the Interest Group’s activities. This is an optional position and introducing a supportive advisor who accepted to support the Interest Group will facilitate the process of proposal reviewing. In an accelerated mode, the process of proposal review takes 1-2 weeks.

Note: The founder must contact the member of the USERN Advisory Board and he/she must accept to be supervisor before sending the proposal to the USERN Administrative team.

- Education Deputy:

This is an optional position and it is not recognized as an official position. The Education Deputy is responsible for managing educational activities in concordance with the managing director.

- Research Deputy:

This is an optional position and it is not recognized as an official position. The Research Deputy is responsible for managing research activities in concordance with the managing director.

- Member:

USERN members who joined the UIG and will be affiliated with the UIG.

Note: Please accept real members! It is highly recommended to accept members who are actively participating in the Interest Group activities.

C. Proposal of Group Establishment

The proposal needs to be a Word file containing all of the following items:

*Title of Group:

*Abbreviation of the Title:

*Abbreviation of the Title in the Local language (e.g., Farsi):
*Major and Field of the Group:

*Founder: (Please write the Founder’s Name, Academic Major, Academic degree, Primary affiliation, username on the USERN website, and email address)

*Which criteria (or criterion) does he/she meet?

*Nominated Managing Director: (Please write the nominated managing director’s Name, Academic Major, Academic degree, Primary affiliation, username on the USERN website, and email address)
Supervisor (optional): (Please write the Supervisor’s Name, Academic Major, Academic degree, Primary affiliation, username on the USERN website, and email address)

- Has she/he accepted to be a Supervisor?

Supporting Advisor (optional): (Please write the Supporting Advisor’s Name, Academic Major, Academic degree, Primary affiliation, username on the USERN website, and email address)

-Has she/he accepted to be a Supporting Advisor?

*Definition: (Please describe the definition and significance of the proposed group.)

*Plan: (Please describe the strategy of the group in organizing a team in research and/or education, and explain the types of activity.)

D. Admission Process

The submitted proposal is required to be reviewed by the USERN Advisory Board and accepted by the board. The process of reviewing proposals usually takes 6-8 weeks.

Upon acceptance, a webpage is created on the USERN website for the UIG, a welcome email is sent to the founder and managing director, and the UIG can start its activities in a “CONDITIONAL APPROVAL” state. An active UIG that wants to get the final approval is required to undertake the following steps: 1) The founder and managing director need to login to their profiles and “accept” their role on the webpage, 2) they need to add at least 10 members who log in to their profiles and “accept” their role on the webpage, 3) Design and upload a logo for their UIG on the webpage, 4) Create a profile for the UIG on at least one social media platform, 5) Start at least one activity and send its report and proof.

If they can present an active UIG, the state will be changed to the “FINAL APPROVAL” state. After getting the final approval, the UIG enters the appraisal process at 6-month intervals which is performed by the central administrative team of USERN and determines promotion or demotion of UIGs.

UIG ESTABLISHMENT FOR THE COMPANIES

There are some rules for the company owners/co-owners/shareholders who are interested in establishing an Interest Group within USERN:

- The name of the Interest Group should not be as same as or similar to the name of the company.

- The logo of the Interest Group should not be as same as or similar to the logo of the company.

- The collaboration of the Interest Group and the company should be specified and declared.

- The USERN's logo cannot be used on the website or posters of the company.

LAW & FINANCE

A. Shareholders

The Founder and Managing Director need to sign a Partnership Agreement with USERN upon approval of the UIG. It indicates that USERN is a 51% shareholder and the UIG is a 49% shareholder (The Founder is a 35% shareholder and the Managing Director is a 14% shareholder).

B. Profit Distribution

- Each UIG needs to pay a part of its events’ profit (33.3%) to the USERN since UIGs have been developed within USERN and undertake their activities as a part of the USERN brand.

- Although the USERN holds 51% of a partnership agreement with each UIG, it has been decided that only 33.3% of the events’ profit is required to be paid to the USERN and instead, each UIG needs to build its savings budget with another 33.3% of the events’ profit. The amount of savings of each UIG is considered as a measure of evaluation. At the end of each year, each UIG needs to report the exact amount of the savings budget.

Note: In the case of Interest Groups that sell videos of their workshops, the mentioned rules related to profit distribution will be applied.

Note: In the case of a change in founder or managing director, the entire UIG credit will remain in the Interest Group.

C. Loan Request

- The Managing Director can request a loan equal to the Interest Group's share (49%) of the Interest Group's credit once a year and repay it within 10 months.

- The Managing Director with a proposal for launching a Start-up and an official letter/approval from the Founder can request a loan equal to the whole Interest Group's credit once a year and repay it within 20 months. The proposal will be reviewed by the USERN External Team and the loan will be paid to the Interest Group upon their approval.

D. Interest Group Independency

In case a founder requests to close the UIG which is not eligible for termination due to the mentioned criteria in UIG Instruction, the request will be assessed by the USERN Administrative Team:

- If they agree to close the UIG (both USERN & Interest Group don’t want to continue any activities by Interest Group), each party takes their ownership share and the Interest Group will be terminated.

- If the Founder and Managing Director want to continue the brand of UIG outside and independent of the USERN, they need to pay half of their share in credit (½ 49%) to the USERN and close the UIG within USERN.

- If the USERN wants to continue the brand of UIG within the network disregarding the Founder's desire, the USERN needs to pay half of its share in credit (½ 51%) to the Founder and Managing Director.

ETHICAL ISSUES

- All USERN Interest Groups practice their profession with integrity, honesty, truthfulness, transparency, fairness, and respect for human dignity.

- All USERN Interest Groups contribute to strengthening individual and team capabilities and support the professional development of their members towards excellence in their work.

- All USERN Interest Groups act according to the organization’s vision, mission, and values, respecting stakeholders, professions, and beneficiaries.

- All USERN Interest Groups should act according to the UIG Guideline and UIG Instruction.

- The USERN Interest Group shareholders should sign the partnership agreement form.

Note: If any of the above issues are not met by the Interest Group, the USERN External Team has this right to apply the warning process (mentioned in UIG Instruction) to the Interest Group.