At 02:45 GMT on 12 October 1984 the hotel was devastated by the blast. Five people died and 34 others were injured.
The Grand was playing host to members of the Cabinet who were staying there for the Conservative party conference.
The University of Brighton will host a symposium to discuss the repercussions.
The university's Understanding Conflict research group will discuss how the conflict in Northern Ireland came to the city, and the political and ethical impact of the attack.
Margaret Thatcher, who was prime minister at the time, was unharmed in the attack, but Cabinet colleague Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret had to be rescued from the rubble.
IRA member Patrick Magee, who had planted the bomb, was sentenced to 35 years in 1986, but 13 years later he was released under the Good Friday Agreement.
A new play by Brighton dramatists Julie Everton and Josie Melia called The Bombing of the Grand Hotel will be read as part of the event on 15 October.
The 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton by the IRA is to be marked by the city's university.