Background: research is a substantive function of modern universities that allows the construction of new knowledge and the formation of students. Objective: aims to describe the organization and development of the research activity at the CAFAM University Foundation. Method: an exploratory study was carried out with the research coordinators, as well as a description of the results of the research in the institution. Results: there are 3 research groups, two of them classified as C, the number of projects in execution is of 17 and the number of products derived from research in 2016 exceeded 100. Conclusions: Research in UNICAFAM has been developing steadily since its foundation, however, there are still important challenges to be met.