The International Union for Vacuum Science, Technique, and Applications is an international federation of thirty national vacuum organizations. It represents nearly 15,000 physicists, chemists, materials scientists, engineers and technologists who are active in basic and applied research, development, manufacturing, sales and education.

The purpose of IUVSTA is to provide a worldwide platform for the promotion, proliferation, and education of vacuum science, techniques, and applications.

Examples of activities reflecting these objectives are:

1. The creation of relevant international meetings, conferences and workshops – these may be large-scale and relatively general meetings, or specialist workshops. They might also be ‘regional’ (e.g. European) or fully international in concept.
2. The coordination of existing international meetings within relevant scientific areas.
3. Assisting national societies to host such international meetings, or to increase the international participation in regional meetings, with attendant advantages of local scientists to attend such meetings at low travel costs.
4. Providing educational opportunities for transfer of expertise from the international community into a local community or into scientifically less-developed countries. Specific activities in this field include:
   1. Organization of educational workshops in the areas of activity of the Union in collaboration with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy.
   2. Organization of educational short courses (half-day to a few days duration).
   3. Preparation and distribution of sets of visual aids for instruction in the range of topics covered by the Union.
   4. Sponsoring a series of Technical Training Courses to be organised by National Vacuum Societies. These courses are delivered in local languages and are aimed mainly at engineers and technicians who have little opportunity to travel to short courses offered in conjunction with international meetings.
5. Administration and organization of international awards and prizes in the scientific and technical areas covered by the Union including:
   1. The Welch Scholarship which provides partial funding for a young scientist to spend one year working in an institution in a country other than the scholar’s own to gain relevant experience.
   2. IUVSTA prizes awarded to senior scientists and technologists for outstanding sustained achievements.
6. Providing an opportunity for national societies to discuss common problems of organization and infrastructure with other societies with common problems through both full executive council meetings and through the coordination of regional forums.
7. To represent the community covered by IUVSTA at an international level, for example by being an active participant in ISC, by serving on appropriate committees such as ISO, UNESCO and non-governmental organizations, and to act as a conduit for interaction with other national and international organizations, such as ICTP.
8. Organization, in coordination with the major international and regional conferences, exhibitions of manufacturers goods and related services for the benefit of both users and providers with the scientific and technical interests covered by the Union.
9. To assist and advise in the creation of new national and regional societies and encourage them, at the appropriate time, to apply to become members of IUVSTA.