The Inner Asia Studies Unit was founded in 1986 as a group within the Department of Social Anthropology to promote research and teaching relating to Mongolia and Inner Asia on an inter-disciplinary basis. The unit aims to promote and encourage study of this important region within and without the University of Cambridge, and to provide training and support for research to all those concerned with its understanding. It is currently one of the very few research-oriented forums in the world in which scholars can address the contemporary and historical problems of the region. The unit is also also concerned with how 'Inner Asia' as an object of study is being reconfigured, from the late-19th Century discourse of orientalism to contemporary critical studies of economic and cultural transformations.

The unit is an interdisciplinary group supporting collaborative and individual research projects at postgraduate and higher levels. MIASU is committed to 'hands-on' research with the highest academic standards. To achieve this we operate through knowledge of local languages and in collaboration with scholars and institutions of the region. Good understanding and fresh perspectives are best attained by interaction, and the Unit therefore maintains links with numerous international organisations and welcomes members whose own background lies in Inner Asia. Our research results are made available to readers from the region and where possible are published in the regional languages. Of particular interest to the Unit are studies on: the rise of political and economic nationalism, the introduction of markets and changing concepts of property, the reemergence of religions, the negotiation of ethnicity and identity, urbanisation and demography, concepts of modernity and post-modernity, environmental adaptions and conservation, and history and historiography in the aftermath of decades of socialist governance.