Like a number of other learned societies founded in thelate eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, theRoyal Asiatic Society was established to supportresearch and to disseminate knowledge to the public.It depends for its charitable status and theprivileges attached to its Royal Charter onupholding these objectives. The Society has a goodrecord in this respect, extending now over 186years. To some degree, the work of the learnedsocieties was first intruded on, and then taken overby, the universities as they grew in number,expanded their curricula, and went in for researchas well as teaching. This was particularly true ofthe twentieth century where, in our field ofinterest, Asian studies in the humanities and socialsciences became firmly lodged in severaluniversities in the United Kingdom. But there alwaysremained a place, particularly one whereprofessional academics and the wider public couldmeet, for Society's such as ours to flourish; and,looking ahead, as university budgets come undergreater pressure, I foresee a growing role for theRoyal Asiatic Society in the future in ensuring thatthe interest and importance of understanding Asiansocieties and cultures remains in the forefront ofthe public mind.