Founded in 2003, it reflects the growing research activity and the increasing academic tuition available at Irish universities in the fields of music and musicology that has been visible since the early 1990s.
[3] The society organises an annual plenary conference, usually around June, an annual postgraduate plenary conference in January that is held in conjunction with the Irish national committee of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM-IE) as well as a number of associated events per year on varying topics on the initiative of music departments around the country.
[4] Members and other scholars publish their research in the peer-reviewed Journal of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (JSMI) and the book series Irish Musical Studies.
Honorary Members of the SMI include: Ita Beausang, Hilary Bracefield, Barra Boydell, Patrick Devine, Paul Everett, Gerard Gillen, Kerry Houston, John O'Conor, David Rhodes, Jan Smaczny, and Harry White.
[10] Corresponding Members, defined as "honorary members who live abroad and who have made particularly notable contributions to furthering musicology in Ireland"[11] include John Butt, Julian Horton, Axel Klein, Harald Krebs, Sharon Krebs, John Rink, R. Larry Todd, Katharina Uhde, and Susan Youens.