According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, the annual global council conference was held in Moscow, Russia. In this conference, which was held by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (FRBR) and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), representatives from 65 research support foundations from 60 countries of the world were present to exchange opinion on evaluation of research projects and scientific diplomacy. In this conference, Nosratollah Zargham, head of the national science foundation, explained about the approaches of the foundation regarding the mentioned issues.

In this regard, head of the foundation stated about holding this conference: the basis of activity of this council is evaluating the fundamental issues in the area of research in order to assess the current condition by a look at the future. By doing so, the scientific capacities of the country can be recognized and development of international interactions can be improved since there is a need for increased interactions to develop the activities in this scientific diplomacy.

Zargham continued: in addition to the global council, a regional meeting is held once a year. The council of GRC in 2018 will be held in Tehran and hosted by the national science foundation with the topic of effectiveness of research and free access. He regarded the holding of this conference in Iran a way to improve interactions with the global scientific network.

In addition, a meeting was held by RFBR with the topic of role of neighbors in research before the conference, result of which was defining research plans by countries along the Caspian Sea in relation to the priorities of the field.

The global research council compromises of heads of scientific foundations of the world managed by the board of directors and executive committee of the office. The representative of Iran is also a member of the executive committee of this council.