The Growth Lab’s research agenda continues to span multiple continents, addressing critical economic growth and development challenges across diverse regions. Our researchers have focused on pressing issues, including water sustainability, gender equality in employment, green growth, migration, and regional economic development. It’s our mission to collaborate with policymakers and share our insights with the world…

Orlando Patterson, the John Cowles Professor of Sociology, was honored last week with the 2024 Hegel Prize at a ceremony in Stuttgart, Germany. Named for 19th-century philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who was born and raised in Stuttgart, the award recognizes outstanding contributions to the humanities. “I was both delighted and surprised at the extent…

Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions invited the world to a two-day groundbreaking summit on the life and work of 20th-century mystic and spiritual teacher George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, and thousands of scholars, practitioners, and the curious from around the globe responded. On Dec. 4 and 5, more than 300 people from as far…

Venturing outdoors during heatwaves may become deadly for millions of people in a world only slightly warmer than today’s, according to new research that considers the effect of solar radiation, wind and other factors on the human body. The Harvard University researchers look at “uncompensable heat” — heat stress so severe that even a fit,…

The Office of the Vice Provost for Research in partnership with the Harvard College Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships pleased to announce the second year of an opportunity for collaborative research projects related to Generative AI, between Harvard faculty and undergraduate students over the summer of 2025. The goal of this funding opportunity is…

The Harvard Center for International Development (CID) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 GEM Incubation Fund. The fund supports emerging research that strives to advance solutions to pressing development challenges of our time, in line with the theme of CID’s annual Global Empowerment Meeting. This year’s fund prioritizes research that incubates solutions, recommends…

Each year, the Office of the Chaplain and Religious and Spiritual Life invites the Harvard Divinity School community to Seasons of Light. As the nights grow longer and the days shorter, this annual multireligious service honors the interplay of holy darkness and light in the world’s religious traditions, including choral and instrumental music, readings by HDS students, the ritual kindling of many flames, and communal prayers and…

As new mayors prepare to take the reins in city halls across the country, 24 newly elected U.S. mayors have been selected for the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University’s Program for New Mayors: First 100 Days, delivered in collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.…

The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School has appointed former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as a Senior Fellow. Recognized as one of the most influential diplomats of his generation, Kuleba served as Ukraine’s chief diplomat during the critical early years of Russia’s full-scale invasion, becoming a global advocate for…

A new study in Science describes an approximately 1.5 million-year-old fossil footprint site in northern Kenya that records, for the first time, two different kinds of ancient human footprints that reflect different patterns of anatomy and locomotion. It is the first direct evidence showing that Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei, two ancient human species, occupied the same…

Marcella Alsan granted the Humboldt Research Award, honoring her outstanding academic record and research to date.

Amid increasingly tense geopolitics, growing nuclear threats, and risks posed by rapidly evolving technologies, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) have announced the creation of a new high-level Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation and U.S. National Security. When President-elect Donald Trump takes…

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter,” said Thomas Jefferson. This ethos has guided Jonathan Alter’s career in public service as a journalist. Over the course of his career, Alter has interviewed…

The Harvard Divinity School community and guests gathered on Nov. 12 for a reception and screening of “Sugarcane,” a National Geographic documentary highlighting the painful history of Indian boarding schools through the lens of survivors and descendants.  HDS Writer-in-Residence Terry Tempest Williams and executive producer Geralyn White Dreyfous curated the screening and introduced film’s co-directors, Emily Kassie,…

The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, in partnership with the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), is pleased to announce an opportunity for Harvard faculty to apply for research grants focusing on the intersection of technology and geopolitics. – Concept Proposal (500 words): Due…

In 2016, French Egyptian curator Nadine Abdel Ghaffar founded the organization Art D’Égypte in response to a problem she was seeing: a lack of public spaces in Egypt for people to view contemporary art.  “As a regular person in Egypt, you cannot go to these amazing museums or exhibitions,” Ghaffar told the audience at a…

At the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP29) on Friday (Nov. 15), the Growth Lab at Harvard Kennedy School launched Greenplexity, an interactive tool that helps countries identify their localized opportunities for green growth by supplying what the world needs for the global energy transition.  The tool provides 10 years of data for 10 green value…

Harvard has increased the size of its Green Revolving Fund (GRF) from $12 million to $37 million, providing additional funds to Harvard’s Schools and Business Units to accelerate campus decarbonization and move the University closer toward its goal to be Fossil Fuel-Free by 2050 and meet city building emissions reduction regulations.   Established in the 1990s…

Harvard University released its 2024 Sustainable Building Standards, which mark the most significant update since the standards were first developed in 2009. The latest standards now target Living Building Challenge (LBC) Core certification plus the Harvard Healthier Building Academy’s (HHBA) requirements for healthier materials, enhanced indoor air quality, future-proofing for a fossil fuel-free future, and…

The Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE), the FAS Office for Faculty Affairs, and the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning have inaugurated the Anya Bernstein Bassett Award for Excellence in Teaching, bestowing the new teaching award on non-ladder faculty last week at the Barker Center.  The award is named in honor of Anya Bernstein…

A wave of climate faculty hires — with more to come — is the latest development in Harvard’s rapidly expanding climate and sustainability initiative. The new climate faculty hires in 2024 include: Aliya Korganbekova and John Mulliken at Harvard Business School; Jeannine Cavender-Bares in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Fiamma Straneo in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard John A.…

The Harvard Undergraduate Foreign Policy Initiative announced Taiwanese American performer and activist Nymphia Wind as the inaugural recipient of its Changemaker of the Year award. The honor celebrates those creating positive change within the field of foreign policy. “Nymphia Wind’s commitment to propelling Taiwanese drag artistry stands as a profound example of how cultural advocacy…

The Harvard Art Museums have appointed Audrey Sands as their Richard L. Menschel Associate Curator of Photography. As a member of the museums’ Division of Modern and Contemporary Art, Sands will steward a growing collection of photographs and time-based media that includes approximately 75,000 objects. She begins her role at Harvard on Feb. 3, 2025.…

Annabel Kim thinks of “Plasmas,” the latest novel by French writer Céline Minard, as a cubist painting: representing reality, while simultaneously shattering our perception of it.   Kim’s new English translation of the novel, which she calls “a preemptive eulogy for humanity,” published Oct. 22. “That shattering opens up really wonderful possibilities for how we are…

A new study, published last month in the journal Global Policy, finds rural residents of the European Union feel invisible to the very policymakers charged with representing their interests. “The paper indicates that a substantial portion of the population in Europe feels a lack of fair treatment and respect from the EU government,” said co-author Massimiliano Mascherini,…

The Mittal Institute announced that Naiza Khan, a highly acclaimed visual artist from Pakistan, will be in residence on the Harvard campus in April 2025 as the institute’s second Distinguished Artist Fellow. “It will be an extraordinary honor to have such an accomplished artist with us at the Mittal Institute. It will provide a wonderful opportunity…

The climate crisis demands new and better technology – from green energy sources to cleaner industrial processes and far beyond. Universities, including Harvard, play a significant role in generating that new tech. “Many of the innovations driving clean tech started in university labs,” said Jim Stock, Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability and Director of…

While maintaining its mission of cultivating high-risk, high-reward research, the Rowland Institute at Harvard welcomed change at a symposium that celebrated its transition to a new home in the heart of campus.  The Oct. 23 symposium featured remarks from institute and campus leaders and former Rowland Fellows and concluded with brief overviews of the seven…

The Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) Initiative and the University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences have welcomed four visiting faculty from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to teach and conduct research for the 2024-25 academic year.  “I’m thrilled to welcome such stellar faculty to our campus this year and look forward to seeing the impact…