The BFSA was created in 2010 by the merger of the organizing committees of the Seminar for Arabian Studies and the Society for Arabian Studies and has carried out the functions of both with an even wider remit. It was renamed the IASA in 2019, reflecting its increasingly international role.
The Constitution of the IASA as revised in 2019: IASA Constitution Revised

The IASA exists to promote research relating to the Arabian Peninsula and, in particular, its archaeology, history, epigraphy, languages, literature, art, culture, ethnography, geography, geology and natural history. It does this by…

– Awarding research grants,
– Producing its own publications and supporting others,
– Disseminating news of new research and events connected with Arabia, and
– Organizing lectures and conferences, in particular the annual Seminar for Arabian Studies.