The Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA) is a joint reseach center of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB) whose objective is to develop high-quality scientific and technical research in the area of Natural Resources, with special emphasis on interdisciplinary research in the mediterranean area.

The general objective is to advance our knowledge in critical and strategic areas as well as improving the life quality of european citizens, and in particular the population of the Balearic Islands. We aim to identify and elucidate the causes, mechanisms and impacts of antropogenic activities and Global Change that threaten marine, coastal and insular systems. We foster proactive, integrated and adaptive knowledge in support of prevention and mitigation of these impacts.

Since its inception in 1985, the institute has experienced a series of reestructurations and changes that brought it from its original name, Institut for Advanced Studies of the Balearic Islands, to the present one, adopted in 1995. At that time, IMEDEA was organized in two departments: Natural Resources and Interdisciplinary Physics.

In 2006, following the recommendations of the Evaluation Panel of the Plan de Actuación 2006-2009, CSIC and UIB agreed to seggregate the Department of Interdisciplinary Physics into a separate Institute of Interdisciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC). Such a reestructuration also conveyed in June 2008 a new Management of Understanding between CSIC and UIB which structures IMEDEA in four departaments ( Biodiversity and Conservation, Ecology and Marine Resources, Global Change Research, and Marine Technologies, Operational Oceanography and Sustainability ), plus a General Service Unit to be structured.