ILIS has three main purposes expressed through a mix of scientific activities:

• The scientific dissemination of innovative social research theories and practices through the promotion of meeting and training opportunities between social sciences scholars such as lectio magistralis, seminars, workshops, conferences and visiting itineraries;
• The planning in partnership with other international actors of theoretical and empirical research interventions to be nominated in national and international programs for funding scientific research;
• Conducting empirical research of international scope that experiment innovative methodological paths also using information resources that come from the network.