On 1 April 2006, the Research Unit for Mountain Research: Man and Environment, today’s Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research (IGF), was created at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and located in the new ICT Technology Park in Innsbruck, built just two years earlier. One unit of the institute, the GLORIA network (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments), is based in Vienna. You can find details on the history of GLORIA on www.gloria.ac.at.

Axel Borsdorf was appointed as Director of the IGF and Georg Grabherr as Deputy Director. On 1 April 2009, the Research Unit was upgraded to an Academy Institute, again with Axel Borsdorf as Director and Georg Grabherr and Johann Stötter as Deputy Directors. At the Academy Session of 31 October 2012, the institute was put on a permanent basis and renamed Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research. Johann Stötter was confirmed as Deputy Director and Harald Pauli took over from Georg Grabherr as Deputy Director for the Vienna unit.

Professor Borsdorf's term as director of the IGF ended with the end of 2016. From 2017 to the end of 2018 Professor Stötter was confirmed as acting director of the institute.

From 2019 to the end of February 2021 PD Mag. Dr. Andrea Fischer was confirmed as acting director.

Since 1 March 2021 Prof. Dr. Margreth Keiler has been the new director of the Institute.