About Us
The Institute for Research on Internet & Society (IRIS) is an independent and interdisciplinary research center founded in 2015 and dedicated to producing and communicating scientific knowledge on internet and society topics, as well as defending and promoting public policies that advance human rights in the digital matters.
Our work seeks to qualify and democratize debates on the internet, society and new technologies issues by bringing scientific inputs to internet users and the different sectors that make up society: government, civil society, private sector, technical and academic community.
We develop research projects involving the publication of books, studies, scientific articles, technical notes and reports in the field of internet governance on topics such as privacy and data protection, encryption and public security, platform regulation, digital inclusion, crypto asset regulation, artificial intelligence, and many others.
Positioning communication as a central aspect of scientific activity, we also work in creating courses and content in different formats on social media, as well as in offering advisory support to the press on our study topics and in promoting campaigns involving human rights on digital issues.
Guided by the defense and strengthening of human rights in the digital matters, we seek to take our reference materials as a contribution to the public debate. We believe that advocacy for a democratic, open, and free internet is supported by scientifically based knowledge, reports, national and international studies, and dialogue with peers.
Founded in 2015, IRIS emerged from a collaborative network in Brazil at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), in Belo Horizonte, the city where the Institute began its independent activities as a research center. Currently, we have a team from all over Brazil, and that has been growing more and more: with new members, different areas of knowledge and fronts of action in our activities.