Welcome

The International Relations Organization (IRO) is a contracted independent organization that is run entirely by students. Our membership ranges from engineering and education school students to philosophy and foreign affairs majors, but all share an interest in current international affairs.

IRO's activities are as diversified as its members. More than just a "Model UN Club" (though that's an important part of what we do), IRO works to promote awareness of international affairs at the University as well as the Charlottesville community. Our key activities include:

• Traveling to compete in collegiate Model United Nations conferences all over North America. In recent years, IRO has participate in conferences at Princeton, Georgetown, Harvard, U Penn, Berkeley, Yale, and McGill University in Montreal.
• Organizing and running one of the largest and most successful high school Model UN conferences (VAMUN) in the region each fall, with over 700 delegates from across the country, as well as a college-level simulation each spring (VICS).
• Inviting ambassadors and international relations scholars to speak at the University.
• Publishing a scholarly undergraduate journal entitled the Wilson Journal for International Affairs, one of the only research journals of its kind in the country.
• Writing and staffing the international crisis simulation for the US Institute of Peace High School Peace Essay Contest winners each year in Washington DC.

Non-Affiliation Statement

Although this organization has members who are University of Virginia students and may have University employees associated or engaged in its activities and affairs, the organization is not a part of or an agency of the University.  It is a separate and independent organization which is responsible for and manages its own activities and affairs.  The University does not direct, supervise or control the organization and is not responsible for the organization's contracts, acts or omissions.