The vital aim of the activity of the Institute is research field. The staff conducts permanently individual and team researches cooperating in this case with Polish and foreign scientific institutions. The staff take actively part in scientific events in Poland as well as in abroad (congresses, conferences, symposiums, research teams, membership in scientific associations). The Institute is a member of The International Political Science Association (IPSA). In January 2001, the Institute employees founded the Branch of the Polish Society of Political Science (PSPS) in Olsztyn which is associated with the International Association of Political Science.
Since the year 2000 the Institute has investigated the research problem The Socio-Political Dilemmas of Our Age and the Relevant Research Methodology. The programme gave an opportunity to utilize the interdisciplinary character of the Institute, taking into consideration several problems related to political science, the modern history of Poland, axiology, methodology, logic, sociology, social philosophy, religion, anthropology, ecology. Nowadays within the framework of the Institute three research grants are carried into execution: Dilemmas of functioning of contemporary democracies – consolidation or crisis?, Methodology and theory of politics – application to the socio-political reality, Social and Political Issues and Developmental Megatrends in the Modern World. Areas of the academic interest of the team members are first of all: the worldwide developmental megatrends: globalization, regionalism and localism; functioning of modern democracy (party system, electoral system, self-government, etc.); security policy; civilization threats; problems of ethnic and denominational policy; impact of religion to politics and ideology; the problem of unemployment in the social, political and ethical context; human rights issues; traditions of the Polish political thought and the present day; methodology of social sciences; philosophical, cultural and political anthropology issues; various areas of culture: morality, art and religion.
The IPS has also started a multi-aspect research into the socio-political reality of the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast and its international surroundings. Since the year 2002, some of the research workers have been carrying out a research project entitled "Poland in Relation to the Kaliningrad Oblast in the Face of the Changes in the European Political Order". More about this research>>>
Since 1999 the Institute employees actively participated in large number of conferences abroad (e.g. in the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Lithuania, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, UK, France, Austria, Iran, Israel, Russia, Spain, Italy and South Africa) and about in 500 conferences in Poland. Furthermore, the employees are authors of many press articles, relations, announcements, journalistic texts, lectures, press and internet interviews, they take part in radio broadcasts on issues related to political science, history and sociology. Lately, steps have been taken towards establishing cooperation with the Universities of Kaliningrad, Vilnius and Kiev. The Institute also conducts research within the framework of the Stefan Batory Foundation’s programme “Foreign Scholarships for Young Scientists” (in cooperation with the Institute of Central and Eastern Europe Studies at the Ukrainian Academy of Science) and Jean Monnet’s Programme “European Community and Economic Development - Retrospects and Prospects”.