Additionally, the museum operates comprehensive community outreach programs and has exhibits in wooden buildings in Kalvskinnet.

DKNVS then began the process of collecting archaeological and natural history materials, which eventually became the organization's main task.

A new reorganization effective January 1, 1996 lead to the establishment of the Norwegian University of Sciences and Technology (NTNU).

The museum's geographic jurisdictions is outlined in the Act's second paragraph: The Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag counties, the municipalities Molde, Kristiansund, Vestnes, Rauma, Nesset, Midsund, Sandøy, Aukra, Fræna, Eide, Averøy, Frei, Gjemnes, Tingvoll, Sunndal, Surnadal, Rindal, Aure, Halsa, Tustna, and Smøla in the Møre og Romsdal counties, along with the municipalities Bindal, Sømna, Brønnøy, Vega, Vevelstad, Herøy, Alstahaug, Leirfjord, Vefsn, Grane, Hattfjelldal, Dønna, Nesna, Hemnes, and Rana in the Nordland county.The merger between NTNU, Gjørvik University College, Sør-Trøndelag University College (HiST), and Ålesund University College took effect on January 1, 2016.

[4] As a part of the merger between NTNU and the three colleges, the museum's own organization was changed, such that the professional divisions were clarified:[5] The other two sections are mainly service providers and were organized into the museum administration virtually unaltered: The Institute of Natural History deals with research within biogeography, biosystems, and ecology, with an emphasis on preservation biology.

Within NTNU, the institute has had the special responsibility of building and maintain scientific collections of objects and long-term data series.

The institute also operates a taxidermy laboratory, two botanical gardens, and provides training and student advising within its professional scope.

The institute has had the special responsibility for implementing archaeological surveys and excavations in Trøndelag, Nordmøre, Romsdal, and Helgeland.

The museum's main areas of research are taxonomy, biological systematics, and evolutionary history; ecological processes and species development; human-nature interactions; cultural materials and forms of culture on a long-term scale; archaeology and advanced technologies alongside dating methods and the development of chronologies.

[6] The museum is involved in a number of research projects including DNA barcoding and the Applied Underwater Robotics Laboratory (AUR Lab).

This includes both biological and cultural-historical objects stored in special magazines and/or exhibitions, along with the preservation of findings that cannot be moved to other locations (like rock art).

The laboratory arranges magazines for the collections, carries responsibility for the climate control of the exhibitions, and protects and conserves art.

The workshop is also responsible for restoring older stuffed animals, and takes samples for DNA or environmental analyses.

This work is central for the research projects involving NorBOL, whereby a registry of species using short, standardized pieces of genetic material (DNA Barcoding) is made available.

Occurrence data can also be found in the mapping service Artskart and GBIF-Norge, the Norwegian counterpart in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

In addition to the dry samples, the museum's collections also contains living plants in the botanical gardens in Ringve and Kongsvoll.

This exhibition addresses the history of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters and a few items from the museum's very first collections.

As of April 2017, the museum has been in the process of a reorganization due to the large exhibit, "BODY WORLDS Vital", which was displayed in Gunnerhuset between June 8 and October 8, 2017.

Norway's oldest wooden constructions were found in Trondheim, and these buildings have been reconstructed based on the results of archaeological findings.

The exhibit includes finds that show the Sámi presence in Southern Norway far earlier than previously thought.

The exhibit regarding Central Norway's prehistory covers a span of 10,000 years, from the early Stone Age until the 11th century BCE.

Findings from the early Iron Age reflect tapestry-weaving, goldsmithing, blacksmithing, and imports from the Roman Empire.

Human tools, jewelry, and weapons are exhibited in the manner in which they were found, without an attempt to reconstruct living environments or objects.

The museum has cooperated with "TV-Adessa" in a network television series entitled "Dead animals in the archive".

In cooperation with students at the Institute for Information Technology at NTNU, the museum developed the "Science Game", a virtual reconstruction of Trondheim in the Middle Ages.

Through animation and video game technology, they created short films that depicted how the Middle Ages in Trondheim may have looked.

[20] The botanical garden encircles the Ringve Music Museum at Lade, east of Trondheim, roughly three kilometers from the city's center.