The priority-driven scientific trends of the institute
- problems of ethnogeny and ethnic history of the Kazakhs
- the ethnography and reconstruction material culture and way of life of Kazakh society
- ethnic anthropology
- history, historiography and source study of the medieval Kazakhstan
- problems of methodology and historiography, source study of Kazakhstan
- national liberation movement of the Kazakh people
- problems of history of national state system and state security
- the history of Kazakhstan in the Soviet period
- social and demographic development of Kazakhstan in 19-th and 20-th centuries
- Kipchak studies
- actual social-political and economic problems of the history of Kazakhstan in the 20-th cetury
- adaptation of quantitative methods and computer-based technology in historical studies