The research foci of the faculty are wide-ranging, from the concerns of development economics, such as agriculture, rural development, industry, urbanisation, and labour, to interdisciplinary areas, such as gender, environment and climate change, human development, social and political movements, and social criticism.
Through its seminars and workshops, MIDS has become a centre for critical thinking on development issues relating to India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular. The services of faculty members are sought by state and central government departments, autonomous agencies, universities and colleges, and non-governmental and international organisations.
Below is the list of broad areas of research interest of the present MIDS faculty:
1. Macro Economics
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, Social Theory
8. Social and Cultural History
9. Political Institutions, Governance and Decentralisation
10. Sectoral Studies on Agriculture, Industry and Infrastructure and Value Chain Dynamics
11. Contemporary Urban: Economy, Governance and Politics
12. Dynamics of Rural Transformations and Rural - Urban Linkages