The Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies was founded in 1995, basing itself at the Institute of Germanic Studies of the University of London. Professor J.M. Ritchie became Chairman of the Research Centre, whose members are Dr Charmian Brinson, Professor Richard Dove, Dr Marian Malet, Dr Jennifer Taylor and Professor Ian Wallace, with Dr Anthony Grenville as Honorary Secretary.

The aim of the Research Centre is to promote research in the field of German-speaking exiles in Great Britain. To this end it organises conferences and publishes their proceedings, holds research seminars, and publishes its own Yearbook. Its members cooperate in the writing of scholarly studies, including a book about the German-speaking refugees from Hitler in Britain, Home from Home?, and a study of the Austrian Centre in London, 1939-47. Though the Research Centre has primarily concerned itself with the German-speaking refugees from Nazism in Britain, it aims to extend its scope to include German-speaking exiles of other periods and comparable groups such as the Czech refugees from Hitler or Italian anti-Fascists. Given its location near the heart of the principal centre of settlement of the refugees from Germany, the Research Centre readily provides advice and useful contacts to scholars and postgraduates working in the field.