The Directorate is a statutory body of the University and was established in 2015 within the Division of Academic, Research and Student Affairs. The Directorate is mandated to coordinate the research, extension and publication activities in the University.

The academic staff at Tharaka University are engaged in various multidisciplinary and collaborative research projects in several thematic areas such as; Organic and Green Chemistry, Medicinal and Natural Product Chemistry, Ecology and Environmental Conservation, Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Business and Economics, Mathematics and Statistics, Sustainable Agriculture & Dryland Farming, Water Conservation, Climate Change, Mining & Mineral Processing, Value addition and Seed Breeding. This has enabled the members of staff to publish in high impact journals such as Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Green Chemistry, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Journal of Mathematics etc. The members of staff are also actively involved in writing fundable research proposals aimed at attracting more funds to the university and solving the societal problems.