TRIUMF is Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, operated as a joint venture by a consortium of universities. Its facilities support both pure and applied research and include the particle accelerator (cyclotron) and the Isotope Separation and ACceleration (ISAC) facility.

The idea of building a cyclotron in western Canada was first conceived by Dr. J.R. Richardson on Galiano Island in 1962. Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria collaborated on a proposal in 1966 for the Tri-University Meson Facility (TRIUMF). The University of Alberta joined the group and TRIUMF was formally established by the four universities in 1968 with funding from the Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB).

The early years of TRIUMF were primarily concerned with the planning, design and construction of the facility on the campus of UBC, and on February 9, 1976 it was officially opened by the Prime Minister of Canda, Pierre Trudeau. In the same year the four founding universities signed a Letter of Agreement with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), to provide on-going core operational funding. The organization was formally constituted as a Joint Venture between the four universities in November 1981. A number of other Canadian universities are affiliated with TRIUMF as Associate Members, while Carleton University and the University of Toronto became Joint Venture members around 2003-2004. Although owned by the consortium, TRIUMF has always made its facilities available to other Canadian and foreign researchers.

TRIUMF is governed by a Board of Management which comprises individuals drawn from its Joint Venture and Associate Member universities and which is responsible for policy, budget, and fund-raising. TRIUMF is administered by a Director, assisted by a number of Advisory Committees, whose number and composition has varied over the years. The organization is internally structured into a number of divisions which have also changed over time through periodic reorganizations.