Each year the Institute hosts approximately 40 fellows. Fellows of the Institute are members of Collaborative Research Groups that convene for a period of up to ten months. In any given year the Institute hosts three to six Collaborative Research Groups, composed of scholars from Israel and abroad in comparatively equal proportions.

A wide range of disciplines has been represented by the research groups hosted at the Institute - from Urban Change to Algorithmic Game Theory, from Computation and the Brain to Sovereignty, Global Justice and the Ethics of War. Fellows of the Institute participate in the IAS programs, free of their normal teaching obligations and administrative duties. Any scholar may submit a proposed topic for a research group along with the names of those who will be part of the group.

Research groups are composed of eight fellows as well as additional guests. The Institute attracts scholars who constitute the vanguard in their various disciplines.

By encouraging long-term interaction, the Institute contributes to the interchange of knowledge and the vitality of academic life in Israel and throughout the world.