Professor Laura Kolbe's current research interests centres on the formation of social classes, as well as the development and shifts in national identities within Europe. For Kolbe, cities in particular offer an interesting platform for exploring the relationship between space, place and time, as well as the relationship between the formation and transformation of social groups. Not wishing to limit herself to a single set of themes however, her research covers an extensive range of topics and chronology. One of the goals in her research  is to bind European and Finnish history more closely together.

Kolbe's previous work has dealt with the history of the Helsinki villa district of Kulosaari, the subject of her doctoral thesis in 1988, and she has written two volumes on the history of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki. Kolbe was involved in the History Committee of the City of Helsinki from 1996 to 2001. She wrote the section on municipal politics in the book series Helsingin historia vuodesta 1945 ('The history of Helsinki since 1945'). Kolbe's research has also encompassed the history of the Netherlands, as well as 17th century Swedish cultural history.