The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR) initially arose from a 1970 meeting of the Working Group on Time Budgets and Social Activities during the International Sociological Association meeting in Varna, Bulgaria. The Association adopted its present name at the 1988 conference in Budapest. IATUR now provides a forum for people interested in any aspect of time use to meet each other and to exchange ideas. IATUR attracts members at all stages of their careers from universities, national statistical offices and other government agencies, international organizations, business, the media, and private research organizations. Association members work in over 40 countries.
IATUR maintains the Electronic International Journal of Time Use Research (eIJTUR), and sponsors an annual conference for time use researchers to present their work. IATUR embraces both qualitative and quantitative approaches to the study of how people use their time, and IATUR members have participated in a number of projects to harmonize time use data for cross-time and cross-national research.