The third meeting of the National Nursing Research Network’s General Assembly were held virtually on December 28, 2020 coinciding with the fourth year of the network's establishment. The meeting was held from 10 to 12:30 a.m. in the presence of Dr. Najjari, Representative of the Deputy Minister of Research and Technology of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Hazrati, Deputy Minister of Nursing Department of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Oskooei, The head of the aforementioned network, and members of the Strategic Council, members of the Network Research and Training Council, veteran nursing professors, representatives of nursing and midwifery colleges, research institutes, research centers, institutions and member organizations of the network.

In the first part of the meeting, Dr. Soroush, head of Nikan-e-Gharb Hospital and provider of the virtual platform, welcomed the participants. Then, Dr. Oskooi, Head of the Nursing Research Network, after welcoming and thanking the four-year efforts of Dr. Malekzadeh, the then-Deputy Minister of Research and Technology, Dr. Najjari, Representative of the Deputy Minister of Research and Technology of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Hazrati, Deputy Minister of Nursing Department of the Ministry of Health, and members of the Strategic Council and the Network Research and Training Council. Next, Vice Chancellor for Research and Technology of Iran University of Medical Sciences and faculty members and staff of the Nursing Care Research Center and those present at the meeting, while presenting the goals of the network, discussed the steps taken to establish, history and operation of the National Nursing Research Network. Afterwards, Dr. Najjari, while pointing to the existing capacities in the field of nursing, declared the Nursing Research Network as one of the most successful nursing networks. Then, Dr. Hazrati, Deputy Minister of Nursing Department of the Ministry of Health, gave a speech about the importance of the Nursing Research Network.

The second part of the aforementioned assembly started with the aim of electing the members of the Strategic Council and the head of the network, by explaining the duties and conditions of membership in the Strategic Council by Dr. Jadid Milani, the network director. Then, with the introduction of the candidates for the Strategic Council, secret ballot for the election of council members and counting of votes was done using a virtual system, and then the elected members of the Strategic Council selected and introduced the network chairman. In this meeting, 16 participants were selected as members of the Strategic Council and Dr. Leyla Valizadeh, a faculty member of the Nursing and Midwifery faculty of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, was appointed as the head of the network. This selection was supervised by Dr. Najjari.

It is worth mentioning that the National Nursing Research Network, whose secretariat is located in the Nursing Care Research Center of Iran University of Medical Sciences has been established in October 2014 in order to expand the boundaries of nursing research and knowledge to meet the needs of the health system and institutionalizing evidence in practice with a focus on the people. This network officially continued its activities in August 2016 with the approval of the Council for the Development of Medical Sciences Universities. Accordingly, from the beginning of its establishment, it has made the development of nursing research priorities in order to target and align nursing research with the needs of the health system and the real needs of society.