The Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA) is a learned society based in London (United Kingdom). Its objective is to advance public knowledge and understanding of Asia through its worldwide networks, its public events, its publications and its support to research. It is independent of governments and political bodies and does not take institutional positions on issues of policy at its meetings or in its publications.
The Society was founded in 1901 as the Central Asian Society to "promote greater knowledge and understanding of Central Asia and surrounding countries". The geographical extent of the society's interest has since expanded to include the whole of Asia. Taylor & Francis publishes the society's journal, Asian Affairs, which has been in print since 1914.
The RSAA Medal was previously known as the Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal and was awarded under that name, but with different criteria. It was renamed in 2025. The Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal was established in 1947 and awarded to "distinguished travellers and writers deemed to have increased man’s knowledge of and stimulated interest in Asia". The Sykes Memorial Medal was last awarded in 2019.
The Lawrence Memorial Medal was established in 1935 to recognise "work of outstanding merit in the fields of exploration, research or literature" by British subjects. In 2025, the RSAA decided that since the medal was established to honour activities that were mainly connected with Britain's imperial past, and because it had consequently been awarded only infrequently in recent decades, it should be discontinued.
- William Anthony Furness, 2nd Viscount Furness (31 March 1929 – 1 May 1995)
- Violet Conolly (11 May 1899 – 11 January 1988)
- Sir Wilfred Thesiger (3 June 1910 – 24 August 2003)
- F. M. Bailey [ (3 February 1882 – 17 April 1967)
- Sir Aurel Stein (26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943)
- Lt Col. Reginald Schomberg (1880-1958)
- Sir Olaf Caroe (15 November 1892 – 23 November 1981)
- Peter Hopkirk (died August 2014), writer and traveller
- Dick Ellis (died 5 July 1975), intelligence officer and author