Irene Shivaei, born in 1988 started her activities in amateur astronomy by going to Zaferanieh Educational Observatory in Tehran, in 2002. Her deep interest in astronomy is observing the sky and sketching celestial objects. She is participating in an international sketching exhibition in Ireland in International Year of Astronomy 2009. She has the ability to navigate the sky with binoculars and manual telescopes. She was the winner of two Iran's national Messier Marathons and after that she has been chosen as a referee for national sky observing competitions. Shivaei is studying Bachelor of Physics in University of Tehran. She works as a science journalist and writes astronomy articles for Nojum magazine (Astronomy magazine of Iran) and some other Iranian scientific magazines and newspapers. In 2007 she had an expedition to Antarctica which made her the first Iranian citizen woman who went to Antarctica.