The Institute has remained steadfast in its mandate of “recovering the past of the peoples of Africa”. One notable initiative in this direction is the 2nd Igbo Salvage Ethnography, which seeks to collect extensive primary data on Igbo traditions for the purposes of documentation and preservation. This project was aimed at providing scholars with valuable resources to address the gaps identified in the initial collection: the 1st Igbo Salvage Ethnography, which took place in 1982/83. During this collection, over 2,000 audio interviews on Igbo life and culture were recorded across different Igbo communities. These materials have been translated from local dialects into English, resulting in a documented corpus of more than 700 pages on indigenous cultural practices. The translation and documentation efforts have been significantly enhanced throughthe Institute's current partnership with the University of Chicago.

The Institute has established itself as an active centre for both local and international collaboration among individuals and institutions, leading to the successful acquisition of numerous competitive research grants. Thus, over the past three years, the Institute’s partnership with the University of Chicago, led by Professor Chima Okorie and Professor James A. Robinson, has yielded support for several initiatives, including the Chinua Achebe International Conferences, Research Methodology Workshops, and the digitalisation of translated documents from the 1st Igbo Salvage Ethnography Project. The Institute's international engagements also extend to its collaboration with IHE Delft, the Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands, which funds the Lake Chad summer schools. Professor Dr Tochukwu Omenma serves as the Nigerian project coordinator for this institute.

The Institute's international profile is further reflected in the distinguished achievements of its scholars.Professor James A. Robinson, co-author of Why Nations Fail, was awarded the 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in recognition of his groundbreaking research on institutions and economic development. Professor Tochukwu Omenma received the prestigious German fellowship for Experienced Researchers by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2022. In 2021, Professor Chima Korieh received the Thabo Mbeki Award for Academic Leadership from the University of Texas at Austin. His grant awards in 2023 (with James Robinson, University of Chicago) included one from the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts, and another from The Pearson Global Forum, University of Chicago, for the Igbo Salvage Ethnography Project. Also in 2022, the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society awarded Professor Chima Korieh (with James Robinson and Maria Batista) a $48,000 grant for a project on the Power of Women in Eastern Nigeria. Similarly, in 2022, he was awarded a $15,000 Modern Endangered Archives Grant for the Igbo Salvage Ethnography Project.