This broad field of research comprises, among other disciplines, human palaeontology or paleoanthropology, paleogenetics, palaeolithic archaeology, and palaeogeography.

[1] The main goals of the society are to stimulate and facilitate communication and scientific collaboration between researchers and scientists involved in the study of human evolution, primarily through the organization of conferences, which are held annually in the second half of September.

The inaugural ESHE meeting was held in the society's past headquarters in Leipzig, Germany at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

In 2019, a largely-anonymous group of younger researchers pledged to boycott the annual meeting in protest of alleged sexual and professional misconduct by society past president Jean-Jacques Hublin.

The board officers are members of the Society and academic professionals employed in the European Union (EU) in the fields of research outlined in the preamble.