Formally, AISA was established in 1995 at the national conference of the Organization of Social Science Research in Eastern Africa (OSSREA) at Kitale, Kenya and activities of Association of World Education (AWE) in Eldoret, Kenya. The organization, guided by its founders Maurice N. Amutabi, Mwangi wa Githumo, Kenneth Simala, Ruth Otunga, Eunice Kamara, Edmond Maloba Were, Everlyne Kawango Agot, Fibian Lukalo, Dani Nabudere, Frederick Nafukho Muyia, came into being as a forum of exchange of ideas outside OSSREA and AWE.  Its founders felt the need for an association that would devote itself to the issues of interdisciplinary research because none of the existing associations in the region paid particular attention to the issues of interdisciplinary research and teaching.