In addition to the areas of Public History and the directors and their staff, the ZZF's scholarly work is currently divided into five departments: "Communism and Society", "Knowledge – Economy – Politics", "Media and Information Society", "Regimes of the Social" and "Globalizations in a Divided World". The institute also has various areas of networking and knowledge transfer: The Leibniz Lab "Upheavals and Transformations", founded in 2024, coordinates the research work of 28 Leibniz institutions. With participatory event formats (Moving Labs), it pursues the goal of making insights from past crises and upheavals useful for the present and future. The Leibniz Research Alliance "Value of the Past" connects 21 Leibniz institutions and numerous international cooperation partners to examine the significance of the past for societies in history and the present.
Founded in 1996, the institute is well connected nationally and internationally, including through its visiting scholars programme, and promotes young academics; around 50 doctoral students conduct their research at the ZZF. Together with the Free University of Berlin, the ZZF has been offering the practically oriented master's program in "Public History" since the 2008/09 winter semester. The institute is linked to various universities – such as the University of Potsdam, the Free University of Berlin and the European University Viadrina – through joint appointments and cooperates with numerous other universities in research, teaching and training young scholars.
In addition to basic research, the institute's main areas of activity are knowledge transfer and the provision of research infrastructure. The Public History department serves as the ZZF's communication interface with universities and institutions involved in applied history education, such as museums and memorial sites. The institute's numerous digital offerings prepare specialist knowledge for the historically interested public, the media and historical-political education. The ZZF has created its own digital research infrastructure for contemporary history with "Zeitgeschichte Digital" (Contemporary History Digital).
The ZZF publishes its research in multiple venues, including four of its own book series, with renowned publishing houses, and in peer-reviewed journals. With its online portals "zeitgeschichte | online", "Docupedia Zeitgeschichte", "Visual History" and the open-access peer-reviewed journal "Zeithistorische Forschungen", the ZZF is the leading provider of contemporary historical information in the German-speaking world.
The ZZF is headed by two directors: Prof. Dr. Frank Bösch and Prof. Dr. Gabriele Metzler. As a member of the Leibniz Association, the institute receives institutional funding from the state of Brandenburg, the association of German states and the federal government. Moreover, the institute raises third-party funding for research projects.
