It aims to support individuals and groups involved in those objectives and to represent the interests of industrial archaeology at a national level.
[2] Overall administration is carried out by an elected Council of Management, whilst day-to-day operations are overseen by the officers of the association.
[3] Through its council, the association has contacts with both traditional archaeology and with those statutory organisations responsible for recording, preserving and funding Britain's historic monuments.
The AIA is not a statutory consultee itself, and the association's role in the process is carried out by its Endangered Sites Officer via the Council for British Archaeology (CBA).
Additional occasional publications include regional gazetteers for areas where annual conferences take place.