Kabarak University boasts of a fully fledged Directorate of Research, Innovation and Outreach in the Division of Academic and Research. The directorate, established in 2017, is mandated to oversee and grow capacity and activities in RIO among faculty and students. In this regard the directorate undertakes the following key functions;

• Outreach Activities: The University supports outreach activities among faculty and students through an internal outreach fund as well as in conjunction with various external partners. Key engagements in this area include digital literacy outreach, public health awareness, legal aid clinics, career and life counseling, as well as the dissemination of research and innovation outputs.
• Linkages: Through memorandum of understanding, agreement and cooperation, the University engages industry, community, non-governmental organizations and government agencies for a variety of RIO activities such as conferences, exhibitions, outreach and research activities. 

• Editorial: The University publishes the following academic journals; the Kabarak Journal of Research and Innovation, the African Journal of Commercial Law, the Kabarak Journal of Law and Ethics, the East African Community Law Journal, the Journal of Information Systems In Eastern Africa and the The Kabarak Journal of Medical, Pharmaceutical & Allied Sciences.
• Conferences: The University hosts annual international research conferences to facilitate the dissemination of research outputs through oral presentations and publication of proceedings. These conferences are in a variety of disciplines such as education, health, music, media, data science, business, theology, psychology, law, pure and applied mathematics, and environment.
• Grants: The University provides annual internal grants to its faculty as pilot funding to undertake research activities. These funds are complemented by a number of external funders such as the National Research Fund (NRF), Google, Artificial Intelligence for Development, the Kenya Education Network (KENET) and IBM.
• Resource Mobilization: The University actively engages potential partners towards the realization of RIO objectives that are of mutual interest between the partners and the University.  The University is also engaged in building the capacity of staff and students in mobilizing resources such as equipment, personnel, partnerships and funding for RIO activities.
• Scientific and Ethics Review: The University has a Scientific and Ethics Review Committee accredited by the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) The committee ensures that faculty and students to undertake research in line with acceptable scientific and ethical standards through capacity building and review processes.
• Innovation and Business Incubation: The University has an established innovation and business incubation center that currently oversees the administration of the internal innovation fund and the annual Central Rift Innovation Week. Through these structures a number of Intellectual Properties have been identified and commercialized. 
• Research and Innovation Centers and Hubs: The University has two established centers; the innovation and business incubation center that focuses on innovation as well as the center for health informatics that undertakes research, innovation and implementation activities related to the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the healthcare sector.