Iris is an architect and an activist, promoting inclusive design in Bucharest where she coordinates the NGO she founded in 2015 – AMAIS.

The NGO’s main focus is the accessibility of the built environment for the benefit of people with disabilities and popularizing inclusive design solutions for the benefit of the whole Romanian society. Over the years she has coordinated many of AMAIS’ social projects and participated in design competitions and conferences. Some of the projects include:

• design of inclusive playgrounds, public spaces, community center
• bringing people with and without disabilities together and doing research on the possible solutions for improving the built environment through the Urban Mobility Club
• organizing empathy workshops
• access audits for public and private sector
• supporting people with disabilities develop independent life skills

She has a master’s degree in architecture from the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism and received her PhD degree in 2020, Summa cum Laude in architecture. Her thesis focuses on the architect’s social responsibility and the benefits of using empathy in design as a way to enrich the individual/ community relationship with the built environment and defining a new architecture program based on an “inclusive social context” for segregated communities.