The activities and research projects of the Ethnological Collections are manifold, testifying to the fact that the Ethnological Museum Anima Mundi is a living place that devotes special attention to the relationship and dialogue with indigenous communities, maintaining collaborative relations with numerous museums for comparisons, research, organization of exhibitions and participation in conferences.
The study of the biography of the objects in the collection (on display and in storage) is still ongoing, and is carried out through archival research, with the aim of reconstructing the various “paths” that led to the formation of the collection.
The analysis and compilation of the scientific files, which are subsequently transferred to a special database, are carried out by specialists from the various areas as well as scholars from the Vatican Museums, but also, thanks to collaboration agreements, by scholars from all over the world.

This study is flanked by publishing projects for popular and scientific catalogues which constitute a point of reference for knowledge of the collections: Ethnos. Le collezioni etnologiche dei Musei Vaticani [Ethnos. The ethnological collections of the Vatican Museums] (2012), Le Americhe. Le collezioni del Museo Etnologico Vaticano [The Americas. The collections of the Vatican Ethnological Museum] (2015), Australia. La collezione indigena dei Musei Vaticani [Australia. The indigenous collection of the Vatican Museums] (2017), Oceania e Sudest Asiatico insulare [Oceania and sland Southeast Asia] (2022) and China. A Selection of Artworks from the Vatican Museums' Collection (2023), Antiche Americhe [Ancient Americas] (2023).

The Department’s activities include the re-connection project promoted by Fr. Nicola Mapelli since 2009, with the aim of retracing the history of objects that have come to the Vatican from all over the world over the centuries, mainly for the 1925 Missionary Exhibition, or as gifts to the Pontiffs.
Thanks to archival research and studies on the biography of the works, the Department tries to establish a dialogue with the communities of origin (source communities), sometimes succeeding in tracing the descendants of those who produced them, thus giving voice to the works through the populations of origin.
Dialogue and collaboration have also led the recent repatriation of works, testifying to a deep understanding and respect for the different cultures around us. On 16 December 2017, in the presence of the President of Ecuador Lenin Boltaire Moreno Garcés and the Museum Directorate, a tsantsa (trophy head) was handed over for return to Ecuador.

Three ancient mummies were repatriated to Peru in 2022. On 17 October, a document was signed formalizing an act responding to the spirit of integration between cultures, on which the Ethnological Museum Anima Mundi is based, in the presence of Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, and the Peruvian Foreign Minister, César Rodrigo Landa Arroyo.
As well as participating in numerous exhibitions outside Europe with its own collection, the Department has also realized a number of specific exhibitions where the works were the protagonists in their countries of origin.
For example, in 2012 in Havana, Cuba, a missal lectern (MV. 101614), made on site; in 2014 in Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), more than 70 Islamic artefacts were exhibited; in the same year, Korean Catholic works were sent to Seoul; in 2019 in Beijing (China), along with prestigious objects from the Forbidden City collection, some of the Museum's most representative Chinese art was exhibited; finally, in 2023 in Montreal (Canada), the wampum belt (MV. 107525) returned.
In 2017, the first Korean exhibition in the Vatican was opened in the Braccio di Carlo Magno: As in Heaven so on Earth. Seoul and the 230 Years of the Catholic Church in Korea.
In 2019 – besides the inauguration of the “Oceania” permanent exhibition area – the exhibition Mater Amazonia. The deep breath of the world was held in the new Anima Mundi Ethnological Exhibition. In 2022 the “Americas” and “Africa” areas were opened permanently.
At the moment, the main activity of the Department for the Ethnological Collections, besides receiving numerous scholars and researchers interested in the collections, is focused on the following projects: the completion of the “Asia” exhibition area and the construction of both the new entrance to the Ethnological Museum and the Wunderkammer.