Global Education and Research: Unleashing Potential (GEAR:UP)

Unleashing each child’s potential to thrive through education.

There is no greater investment than high-quality, equitable education for all.

The Global Education Challenge

What stands between today’s children and a thriving future?

A graphic showing five education challenges related to SDG4 (Quality Education). Stagnant Learning Levels (green box, icon of a flat arrow curve): Enrollment is rising but test scores are not improving. Road to SDG4 (dark blue box, icon of a dotted road with location pins): Unless something changes, 300 million students will lack foundational skills by 2030. Complex Classrooms (light blue box, icon of two student figures): Diversity in learning levels has increased, complicating effective teaching. Inefficiency in Spending (orange box, icon of money and wallet): Rising per-student expenditures plus stagnant test scores equal falling value for money. Funding Shortfall (red box, icon of coins with a downward arrow): A $97 billion funding gap threatens the achievement of SDG 4.

Our Purpose

To achieve SDG 4: quality education for all by 2030, we need bold, innovative action that ensures every child, everywhere, not only attends school, but truly learns, grows, and thrives.

At GEAR:UP, we are bringing education back to the center of the global growth conversation. Decades of evidence prove that investing in education delivers unmatched social and financial returns—transforming lives and strengthening communities. That’s why we are committed to mobilizing greater resources and investment to unlock the full potential of quality education for all.

About GEAR:UP

Housed within the Harvard Center for International Development, GEAR:UP supports CID’s mission to build, convene, and deploy talent to address critical challenges in global education by:

We support experiential learning opportunities for Harvard undergraduate and graduate students by matching them with interested organizations conducting education work globally. These include summer internships through CID’s Global Internship Program and short, 1-2 semester long research projects on a topic of strategic interest to collaborating organizations.

We bring together education practitioners and experts to share cutting edge findings, experiences, and ideas about how to leverage education to build a thriving world for all. We do so through events and workshops as well as online media including articles, blogs, and webinars.

We facilitate connections between education practitioners and CID’s network of PhD students and faculty affiliates to generate applied evidence on what works to improve learning globally. We support both existing and new education research projects at CID through expert research management, fundraising support, and matchmaking project opportunities to faculty and PhD student interests

Our Priority Areas

We prioritize research and programs which support achieving SDG 4. While we work in multiple areas, we believe the highest impact programs are those that:

Consider the entire education system
Support personalized learning journeys
Leverage technology, big-data, and AI
Are sustainably scalable

Get Involved with GEAR:UP

Passionate about global education? So are we.

GEAR:UP connects Harvard students and organizations to collaborate on education research, internships, capstone projects, and more. If you have any questions or additional queries, please reach out to GEAR:UP’s leadership through Julia Ladics Collins at julia_ladics@hks.harvard.edu.

Explore opportunities by completing the relevant form below:

For students:

GEAR:UP Student Interest Form

For organizations:

GEAR:UP Organization Interest Form

GEAR:UP Research Initiatives

Colombia Education Initiative

The Colombia Education Policy Research program works directly with education policy makers and leaders in Colombia to innovate and test the most promising education initiatives throughout the country.

Colombia Education Initiative

Learning & Educational Achievement in Pakistan Schools

Learning and Educational Achievement in Pakistan Schools (LEAPS) is the largest body of education research in Pakistan and one of the largest in any low-income country.

Learn more about LEAPS