The Institute's major activities are reported in its annual reports and list of publications is also provided separately on the website. In its studies MIDS has a focus on Tamil Nadu but not limited when the issues concerned are broader expanding to regional, national or global level. While the specific themes and topics of research of individual faculty cover a wide range of social science disciplines and policy concerns, we list below the main areas that are of present research interest of the faculty.
1. Economic Modelling and Public Finance
2. Employment, Skill Formation and Labour Markets
3. Natural Resources, Ecology: Economics and Political Economy
4. Poverty, Inequality and Discrimination
5. Caste, Gender and Sexuality Studies
6. Social Movements and Social Transformation
7. Social Sector Policies and Outcomes
8. Social Theory
9. Social and Cultural History
10. Political Institutions, Governance and Decentralisation
11. Sectoral Studies on Agriculture, Industry and Infrastructure and Value Chain Dynamics
12. Contemporary Urban: Economy, Governance and Politics
13. Dynamics of Rural Transformations and Rural - Urban Linkages