The Institute aims “to improve understanding of temperate marine, Southern Ocean, and Antarctic environments, their resources, and their roles in the global climate system through research, education, and outreach”.

[1] IMAS was established with a core research and education capability, through expertise in the following foundation themes: Fisheries and aquaculture, Ecology and biodiversity, and Oceans and cryosphere.

[4] These programs are linked by three key cross-disciplinary themes to meet integrative and multidisciplinary research goals: Climate change, Ocean-Earth systems, and Oceans and Antarctic governance The Australian Research Council's (ARC) Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiatives provide a specific benchmark for the core IMAS disciplines of oceanography and fisheries sciences, and in 2012 IMAS contributed to the University of Tasmania achieving grade 5 scores in oceanography, ecology, and geology, and in fisheries sciences.

[5] In 2013, a new 69,000m² building was completed on the Hobart waterfront, designed to accommodate the co-location of several research entities: IMAS (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies), Australia's Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC), and the Tasmanian Partnership for Advanced Computing (TPAC), along with their respective staff and students.

[7] dditionally, plans are underway to significantly expand existing research and educational infrastructure, totaling approximately 4,500m², located south of Hobart in Taroona.