Together with the sociologists Ulla Bock and Elisabeth Böhmer, Johanna Kootz was part of the planning group of the Central Institution for the Promotion of Women's Studies and Women's Research at Freie Universität Berlin (since 2000: Central Institution for the Promotion of Women's and Gender Studies, ZEFG), almost at the same time as the activities at University of Bielefeld, these were the first institutions in West Germany to promote "women-specific research" (as it was called at the time) and young female academics.
She also initiated the documentation of women's research-related theses and qualifications at the FU Berlin since 1979 and the development of the database Habilitierte Frauen in Deutschland seit 1970.
Jewish Women Prisoners in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp During and After World War II", a cooperation between Tel Aviv University and the FU Berlin.
In the following years, she offered at the Otto Suhr Institute on gender relations in National Socialism and the Ravensbrück Women's Concentration Camp, to which she also invited former prisoners.
[13] As part of an interdisciplinary women's research group at the FU, she published the volume Das Frauenkonzentrationslager Ravensbrück - Quellenlage und Quellenkritik in 1997 together with the memorial site director Insa Eschebach.
After leaving Freie Universität in 2003, Johanna Kootz remained active in the "International Circle of Friends of the Ravensbrück Memorial".