His academic focus encompasses diplomatic history (including Serbia's relations with the United Kingdom and France), the Holocaust, the culture of memory, and the state's relationship with traditional religious communities in the twentieth century.

He has initiated and coordinated several projects under the auspices of UNESCO, co-authored national installations including "Military memorials and places of suffering from the Second World War" (2011), and attended professional and academic conferences in several countries.

[2][3] Ristić began working in Serbia's ministry of labour in November 2003, where he was responsible for the protection of war memorials, places of suffering, and the culture of remembrance.

[8] In 2021, Ristić served on a committee that organized a cultural and artistic program for Victory Day, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

[10] In August of the same year, he sent a public letter to the Jerusalem Post newspaper protesting a recent article by David Goldman, whom Ristić accused of minimizing the number of Serb victims at the Independent State of Croatia's Jasenovac concentration camp during World War II.