Iris Popescu is an architect specialized in inclusive design and accessibility within AMAIS, the NGO she founded in 2015 and that she is coordinating. The mission of the organisation is to create an equitable society for people with permanent, temporary or context-based disabilities by applying the principles of inclusive design in architecture, technology and social projects. 

In 2020, she received her PhD degree, Summa cum Laude in architecture, from the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban planning. Her thesis and research work focus on developing the architect’s and other stakeholders’ social responsibility, while emphasizing the benefits of using empathy and human diversity in design as ways of enriching the individual or community’s relationship with the built environment. 

In order to expand the impact of her mission of building inclusion, in 2023, she started the mandate of director of Region II, part of the Architecture for All working group organized by the Union Internationale des Architects (UIA) and has also published the first inclusive design guide in Romania.

Since 2024, she is an URBACT Ad-Hoc validated expert looking forward to support public administrations, other experts or urban change-makers to build the equitable society we all desire by turning accessibility and inclusion into natural parts of the design process.