The research community at SIFT is vibrant and expanding, supported by such current research programs as the WTO Chair Program, one municipal-level key academic discipline and five local-level key academic disciplines sponsored by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, as well as such research organizations as the Institute of International Business at SIFT, which is nominated as one of the key research institutes among common institutions of higher learning in Shanghai that are engaged in the study of humanities and social sciences and the Research Base of Innovative Study of Social Sciences and the Studio of Shanghai Research Institute for Development Strategies. Based on its traditional research strength in international trade, and expanding into new areas such as finance, industrial economics, business administration, international law, foreign linguistics and applied linguistics, SIFT has fostered its unique strengths in four major academic disciplines, including economics, management, art and law, which are mutually supportive, interactive and coordinated. In the academic discipline of international trade, SIFT has established itself as a national leading researcher on the WTO and its multilateral trading system while other disciplines are also growing into distinctive specialties, creating a synergy to help fulfill the overall mission of SIFT.