The APMRN was established in 1995 as a research project of the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme of UNESCO, with its secretariat located at the University of Wollongong, Australia. The APMRN is a collaborative organisation of researchers and scholars interested in all aspects of migration, who are organised through autonomous regional networks including Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The central focus of the project is the long-term role of migration and ethno-cultural diversity as factors in transforming the societies of the Asia-Pacific Region. 

The Institute for the Study of International Migration was founded in 1998 and is affiliated with the law centre at Georgetown University, Washington DC, United States. ISIM focuses on all aspects of international migration, including the causes of and potential responses to population movements, immigration and refugee law and policy, comparative migration studies, the integration of immigrants into their host societies, and the effects of international migration on social, economic, demographic, foreign policy and national security concerns.