The Athens Institute for Education and Research was established in 1995 as an independent association with a mission to become a forum where academics and researchers from all over the world could meet in Athens and exchange ideas on their research and discuss the future developments of their discipline. International symposia and conferences, publications and research are the basic activities of ATINER.

Since 1995, ATINER has organized close to 150 international conferences and has published more than 100 books. Academically, the Institute is organized into four research divisions and twenty research units. Each research unit organizes at least an annual international conference and undertakes various small and large research projects.