Corporate body
The Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in 1871 from the merger between the Ethnological Society and the Anthropological Society. Permission to add the word 'Royal' was granted in 1907. The RAI exists to promote the public understanding of anthropology, as well as the contribution anthropology can make to public affairs and social issues. It includes within its constituency not only academic anthropologists, but also those with a general interest in the subject, and those trained in anthropology who work in other fields.