Scientific research is the main activity of KAU. The main principles of KAU educational system are learning by doing research and individual approach. This is realized through the specialized KAU departments, which are the joint educational units of KAU and basic academic institutes: Each student is immediately assigned to a scientific supervisor, an active working scientist of the basic institute, who provides support for the study and supervises the student's research work.

The system of specialized departments at the basic institutes is a system of research intensive education ("phystech system"), which KAU inherited from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and further develops, supplementing with its own research projects and Research Centers.

The Research Centers are KAU's structural units that are formed on a temporary basis to conduct scientific research on particularly relevant modern scientific fields, which are breakthrough and will determine the global priorities for the development of the scientific field in the near future. The Research Centers are established as a joint structural units of the KAU and several scientific institutions of the NAS of Ukraine on an interdisciplinary basis. The Research Centers may also be staffed by other institutions of higher education and research.

Наразі функціонують чи в процесі становлення наступні центри КАУ:

Ukrainian-German Excellence Center - UKRATOP

Data Schience Center

Quantum Materials and Quantum Technologies

Laboratory of electronic instruments

Innovation Center