The projects carried out jointly in the IZeF are grouped together in various IZeF Research Groups. The research results are regularly published in national and international journals (Publications).

Constant advances in technical and media opportunities as well as the changing social challenges - such as an education system that is no longer exclusive but inclusive - call for the continuous examination and updating of a well-founded knowledge base in teacher education. In order to provide this, empirical research projects comprising comprehensive specialist and methodological competencies from numerous disciplines are indispensable. A large, interdisciplinary research centre, such as the IZeF at the University of Cologne - one of the largest educational institutions for teachers in Germany and Europe - can make a fundamental contribution to this. The IZeF integrates research perspectives from educational and social science as well as from psychology. These are enriched in a special way by looking at research approaches in remedial education. In addition, colleagues specializing in the teaching of subjects from the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences contribute their specific expertise to teacher training on a large scale.