The IES’s research staff conducts research approved by the Research Committee and maintains affiliations with international scholars working on Ethiopia. The research unit is now moving towards planning and executing thematic researches focusing on pertinent national issues, while at the same time encouraging individual researches. The coordination of research efforts of foreign scholars, focusing on Ethiopia, is also an integral part of the Institute’s research duties. The IES provides affiliation for a significant number of researchers coming from all over the world, and supervises their activities by way of requiring submission of progress reports and final outputs.
The Unit publishes papers in the form of proceedings of seminars and conferences, reports, reproduction of old manuscripts and the Journal of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (JES). So far 18 International Conferences have been conducted both inside and outside the country under the auspices of the IES (the 19th to be held in around November 2014 in Poland). Proceedings of the ICES are widely used as reference materials. Moreover, JES, which has been one of the reputable journals at Addis Ababa University, has served as a major publication outlet for scholars working in the social sciences and humanities. JES is still valued as a credible reference for researchers, and graduate students working on Ethiopian issues nationally and internationally.
Besides these traditional engagements, the Research Unit of the IES recently introduced a monthly seminar series, where the researchers of the Institute present reports on on-going projects, project proposals, share views, and exchange research information with a view to soliciting constructive inputs. Moreover, a new tradition of holding an annual workshop has been introduced as of 2011/2012 Academic Year, with a view to expediting research at the Institute and creating venue for research fellows to present their research findings for discussion.