Established in 1993, The Hellenic Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London is a research centre for the study of Hellenism, based in the History Department. It brings together two areas of teaching and research in which Royal Holloway has long excelled: the study of the language, literature, history and culture of Ancient Greece, based mainly in the Department of Classics, but also in the Department of Drama and Theatre, and Byzantine studies, which have a long tradition in the History Department.

The Hellenic Institute aims to consolidate these strengths and to extend them by promoting further the study of Hellenic tradition across the centuries, from the archaic and classical Greece, through the Hellenistic and Roman times, to Byzantium, the Post-Byzantine period and the modern world. The Hellenic Institute hosts a number of important research projects and organises seminars, lectures and conferences addressed to students, scholars and to a wider public.

The Hellenic Institute also seeks to bring together at a national and international level all those who share its interests. It collaborates closely with other institutions in the University of London and The Hellenic Centre, a cultural meeting place for the Greek community in London. It has links with Universities overseas, especially in Greece and Cyprus. An Erasmus/Socrates postgraduate student/staff exchange programme is established between the Hellenic Institute and the Theological School of the University of Athens. Scholars from the Universities of Athens, Ioannina and Cyprus have been visiting the Institute as part of collaborative research.

The Hellenic Institute currently runs two taught postgraduate degree courses: MA in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies and MA History: Hellenic Studies. It also offers supervision to students who pursue MPhil/PhD research in various subjects within the field of Byzantine and Hellenic Studies. Staff of the Institute also contribute to undergraduate courses on Byzantine history and Greek language at RHUL.

The Hellenic Institute is currently receiving funding from the College, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, the Hellenic Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Cyprus, the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the Hellenic Foundation (London), the London Hellenic Society, the Orthdodox Cultural Association (Athens), The Friends of the Hellenic Institute and private donors.