Currently all research groups and institute wide projects correspond in respectively specific form to the following main topics:

1. The comparative analysis of shared or controversial values and the potential for conflict as well as methods of resolution, which develop from the reflection of these values (textbook oriented perceptions of conflict and conflict mediation).
2. The examination of specific patterns of memory in textbooks as well the representations of historical experience and concepts of space that go along with this (historical consciousness and perceptions of space).
3. The research of images of the self and of the “other” as conveyed through textbooks as well as the patterns of construction of collective interpretation and identities that are connected to these images (self-perceptions and perceptions of the “other”, collective patterns of interpretation and identity constructions).
4. The socio-cultural contexts, in which academic knowledge in the global age is produced, conveyed and appropriated (Education and Globalization).

In the intermediate-term the following fields will also be developed:

1. History, theory and practices of research on historical educational media
2. Empirical research on reception, effect, and evaluation
3. Research on other academically relevant educational media.