The Directorate of Research and Development, which was established in 1996, is one of the Directorates of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which switched to electronic governance in early 2014 via electronic systems in the workflow that achieve high efficiency in work and time.

The Departments of Directorate are:

1- Department of postgraduate Studies

2- Department of Scientific Affairs

3- Department of Pioneering Projects Management

4- Department of Coordination and Scientific Cooperation

5- Department of Modernization and Development of Educational Curricula

6- Department of Chemical, Biological and Radiological Safety and Security

The Directorate was entrusted with multiple tasks, including setting scientific research policies, supporting creativity and innovation in educational and research institutions, marketing scientific outputs, implementing research projects, developing primary and higher studies curricula, following up and supporting scientific societies, virtual education, the movement of authorship, publishing and scientific libraries, as well as following up scientific ranks for faculty members and the implementation of many programs to raise their efficiency.

The most prominent achievement of the Directorate of Research and Development for postgraduate students and the educational environment is equipping laboratories with equipment from international origins, and it has also implemented a scholarship program for postgraduate students in the stages of research completion with their supervisors to solid international institutions, as well as encouraging those who publish their research in international journals and honoring them with awards, developing and updating curricula for university and postgraduate studies, as well as setting and updating admission controls to suit the needs of institutions and market.

The Directorate is keen on raising the efficiency of the teaching staff, who suffered a lot in the previous stages via adopting development projects such as training and academic sabbaticals outside Iraq, legislation for academic promotions and scientific publishing in line with the major transformations that the world is witnessing, as well as its endeavoring to actively cooperate with its educational institutions and grant them complete independence to manage projects after the Directorate of Research and Development develops and completes the requirements such as the UNESCO Chair project, which is a research unit in the field of developing studies of religious dialogue in the Islamic world at the University of Kufa.