The NEJUP focuses on conducting and producing research in the areas of Politics, Law, and the Judiciary, with an emphasis on the political sociology approach to judicial institutions and related themes in elite studies and their relationship with the legitimation of various forms of power. These include the judiciary, bureaucracy, economy, and science.

Over the past decade, the key themes studied have included projects related to structural issues in the relationships between Politics, Law, and the Judiciary, as well as the internationalization of institutional models. Additionally, the NEJUP has explored central themes in recent political life, such as the study of anti-corruption movements and their impact on the political dynamics of political and judicial institutions. In this regard, the NEJUP contributes to teaching, research, and outreach activities that enhance our understanding of conceptual notions and cultural, institutional, and sociopolitical aspects of justice and its relationship with political power.

Between 2014 and 2017, as part of the project "Political Legitimacy of the Judiciary in Latin America: Institutional Configurations and Socio-Political Aspects of the Judiciary and its Elites in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela in the 2000s," funded by CNPq, a database was constructed focusing on judicial systems in Latin American countries, with indicators for the study of the degree of political independence and the recruitment of judicial leadership. Researchers from the NEJUP also publish analyses on justice and political topics in the CEGOV Bulletin and the Jota-Justice website, in the Judiciary and Society column. Since 2016, the NEJUP has hosted several research projects, theses, and dissertations related to anti-corruption movements.

Between 2015 and 2017, the project "Judicial Institutions and the Fight Against Corruption in Brazil: Genesis of a Legal and Political Cause" was developed, and from January 2018 until 2022, the international dimension of this theme was prioritized with the project "Legal Elite and the Fight Against Corruption: International Prescriptions, Corporate Investments, and Institutional Frameworks in Brazil in the 2000s," funded by CNPq.

In 2022, with the support of CNPq, the project "Formation and Political Realignments of the Leading Figures of the Brazilian State" was initiated. This project focuses on conducting research that examines the relationships between political and corporate realignments of elites and state institutions in Brazil over the past thirty years, with the aim of contributing to the improvement of justice management and public administration policies. The primary focus is on legal elites, with three key aspects: 1. Mapping the historical evolution, organization, and modes of political alignment of associations of judges, members of the Public Ministry, Union lawyers, defenders, police officers, and other categories of "legal careers of the state." 2. Analyzing the paths of associative leadership and their relationship with holding leadership positions in judicial institutions, councils, oversight bodies, and various spaces of political, educational, and institutional leadership. 3. Mapping and studying the organizational evolution, institutional and associative connections of the corporate training schools of the studied categories, as well as the profile and paths of their leaders. This phase also includes connections with the academic sphere and participation in international networks for disseminating justice management models and/or public oversight bodies.