The IASSID Academy on Education, Teaching and Research was established in 2006 by the IASSID Council. Its mission is to set up and to provide educational presentations through workshops, courses, seminars and/or lectures and hands-on 'consultative assistance'. It uses the broad-based research extant in the field of intellectual disabilities, including all forms of research, but in most instances those that address application or translational aspects.

The Academy provides research-led education, covering a broad range of research issues and applied practice supported by research. With this in mind, the Academy’s activities foster capacity to implement research-based policy and research-based practice. Depending on the topic, audiences vary. Attendees are frontline rehabilitation and direct support personnel practicing in the community on a day-to-day basis in residences, group homes, and training and support agencies, as well as frontline allied health professionals (speech, language, behavior) and psychologists and social workers. Other attendees are medical personnel, including pediatricians, general practitioners, neurologists, and psychiatrists. Managers and agency directors along with government staff and policy makers are also attendees, as well as researchers from the social, behavioral and medical sciences, and education. Students are also attendees, as are parents and other carers belonging to parent organizations or having a hands-on role in caring for a child with a disability.