The Department of Applied Research established in 1976 under the Faculty of Rural Development plays a key role in enabling the Institute to achieve its overall objective of rural development by promoting interdisciplinary, problem solving and development research. The Department offers Ph.D. and M.Phil. programmes apart from teaching Research Methods and Applied Statistics courses to UG, PG and M.Phil. programmes of the Institute. The thrust areas of academia are Research Design and Applied Statistics, Interdisciplinary and Policy Research, Rural Development Research Paradigms, Development Indicators, Advances in Gender Research, Population and Reproductive Health, Poverty and Human Rights, Applied Gerontology, Labour Studies and Globalization, Environment and Tribal Education.