Over the last five years, the school has been granted over 1,000 research projects, including over 160 national research grants. The number and ratio of research projects funded by National Social Sciences Foundation of China and National Natural Science Foundation of China have been in a leading place among the fellow schools in Zhejiang University. The sum of research grant over the last five years is over RMB 0.2 billion. The sum, number and quality of research grants have been on the steady rise and taken the first place among the schools of humanities and social sciences for many years in a row. The school faculty members have been awarded over 40 provincial or state level prizes, 11 of them being the first prizes. Faculty members have published over 1,800 academic articles (over 380 in tier-one journals, over 80 in top journals and over 400 in journals indexed by SSCI/SCI/EI), 97 monographs, and over 70 translated or edited books.

The school has made great achievements in the construction of research platforms and bases. It has one Key Research Base of Humanity and Social Sciences and 985-Project National Innovation Base of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education of China, one Strategic Research Base of the Ministry of Education of China, one Strategic Research Base of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China, two Zhejiang Provincial Key Research Bases of Philosophy and Social Sciences, twelve university-level research institutes, seventeen university-level interdisciplinary research centers. The school has also made important achievements in the construction of top think tanks. China Academy for Rural Development, Public Policy Research Institute, Land Academy for National Development, and Center for Non-Traditional Security and Peaceful Development Studies have been listed as the first think tanks in the Chinese Think Tank Index (CTTI). China Academy for Rural Development has become one of the first members of Association of Top University Think Tanks. Collaborative Innovation Center for Social Organizations and Social Governance was listed as Zhejiang Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center in 2011.