LIP is a scientific and technical association of public utility that has for goal the research in the fields of Experimental High Energy Physics and Associated Instrumentation.

LIP's research domains have grown to encompass Experimental High Energy Physics and Astroparticles, radiation detection instrumentation, data acquisition and data processing, advanced computing and applications to other fields, in particular Medical Physics.

The main research activities of the lab are developed in the framework of large collaborations at CERN and at other international organizations and large facilities in Europe and elsewhere, such as ESA, SNOLAB, GSI, NASA and AUGER.

LIP is an "associated laboratory" assessed as "Excellent" in three successive evaluations by international panels.

In its two laboratories in Coimbra and Lisbon, LIP has about 170 people, out of which 70 hold a PhD degree, and many are professors at the local universities.