CAMBRIDGE, MA—Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) announces the incoming new leaders in practice and research fellows for the 2019-2020 academic year. WAPPP’s leaders in practice will have opportunities to strengthen the gender dimensions of their work, as well as to share their expertise and experience with Harvard Kennedy School’s students, faculty, fellows, and staff. WAPPP fellows enrich the intellectual life of the School’s faculty and students by sharing and collaborating on cutting-edge gender-related research.
The 2019-2020 WAPPP leaders in practice are:
Ashley Judd is an author, actor, and social justice humanitarian. She is a leader of the #metoo movement and a founding member of Time’s Up. She serves as global goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund. She has visited grassroots programs in 22 countries around the world, spending time with marginalized communities in fragile settings such as war zones, refugee camps, slums, brothels, hospices and orphanages. She serves on numerous advisory boards, including the International Center for Research on Women, Apne Aap Worldwide, Demand Abolition, and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. She is also chairperson of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project: Curbing Abuse, Expanding Freedom.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Rangita de Silva de Alwis will jointly conduct a study titled, “Redefining Leadership in the Age of Sustainable Development Goals: Accelerating and Scaling Up Delivery Through Technology." This research will be conducted as a joint study with Harvard Law School's Center on the Legal Profession, advised by Professors Iris Bohnet and David Wilkins of Harvard, Professor Deborah Rhode of Stanford University, and Dean Theodore Ruger of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Mlambo-Ngcuka is the United Nations under-secretary-general and executive director of UN Women. Previously, she served as deputy president of South Africa, working on the fight against HIV/AIDS and coordinating efforts between the private sector, civil society and government to tackle poverty and education issues. De Silva de Alwis serves as the associate dean of international affairs at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she also teaches international women’s rights and women, law and leadership. She is also a special advisor to the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College, established by former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard. Previously, she was the inaugural director of the Women in Public Service Project founded by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The 2019-2020 WAPPP research fellows are:
Julia B. Bear is an associate professor at College of Business at Stony Brook University. Bear’s research focuses on the influence of gender on negotiation, conflict management, and persistent gaps in parity in organizations and careers.
Sebawit G. Bishu is an assistant professor at University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs. Bishu’s research interests include public management, organizational studies, and social equity. Her work examines how internal and external workforce outcomes are shaped by societal, organizational, and individual-level drivers. She employs a variety of methodological tools, from survey experiments to qualitative interviews, to conduct research that engages public sector organizations and workers.
Manuela Collis is a research associate at Harvard Business School and the skills, research and career co-chair of Harvard Kennedy School’s Behavioral Insights Student Group (BISG). Using tools from experimental economics, Collis’ research explores how gender influences decisions and outcomes in education and in the labor market.
Amal El-Sana-Alh'jooj is the executive director of the International Community Action Network (ICAN) at McGill University. She has 29 years of experience working as an activist focusing on minority and women’s rights in Israel and is an expert in the field of community development working with marginalized groups in the Middle East.
Brit Grosskopf is a professor of economics at the University of Exeter Business School. She is an experimental/behavioral economist whose research examines how individuals’ decisions are shaped by social preferences, identity, and social norms. She has examined discrimination in retail markets and perceptions thereof and is currently working with a microfinance institution in India to empower women through access to credit.
Ivona Hideg is an associate professor and Canada research chair in organizational leadership in the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her research includes workplace diversity, gender equality, and inclusion. She examines issues surrounding culture, ethnicity, language, and socio-economic background diversity.
Nishith Prakash is an associate professor of economics at the University of Connecticut.
His research includes development, political economy, public policy, and economics of education. His work includes understanding the effects of India’s affirmative action policies on the country’s labor market outcomes, child labor, and poverty; interventions to reduce gender gaps in education in Zambia; and evaluation of various government policies including the impact of all women police stations in India.
Leonora Risse is a vice chancellor’s postdoctoral fellow in the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University, Australia. Her research explores the mechanisms that give rise to gender differentials in the workplace. She focuses on the way that personality traits, attitudes, and adherence to societal norms can explain gender gaps in workforce outcomes and opportunities, and how this knowledge can be effectively communicated to businesses to activate change.
About Harvard Kennedy School
Harvard Kennedy School’s mission is to improve public policy and public leadership across the United States and around the world, so people can lead safer, freer, and more prosperous lives. By combining cutting-edge research, the teaching of outstanding students, and direct interaction with practitioners, the Kennedy School has an impact on solving public problems that no other institution can match.
About the Women and Public Policy Program
The Women and Public Policy Program creates and disseminates evidence-based strategies to advance women and promote gender equity. WAPPP catalyzes collaboration among
thought-leading scholars, students, and leaders in practice to close gender gaps in leadership and economic opportunity.
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Media Contact
Amy Magin, communications manager at WAPPP
617-495-4245 (office)
978-604-7406 (cell)
amy_magin@hks.harvard.edu