Affiliations & Friends

Field Lab Partnerships

The Field Lab’s work is deeply embedded in a broader ecosystem of scholars, practitioners, and civic leaders committed to improving state and local governance. Our students, fellows, and partner governments benefit enormously from the ideas, opportunities, and networks created by this community.

Below are some of the key organizations whose missions intersect with ours and with whom we regularly engage in teaching, research, and practice.

A Shared Commitment to Public Service

Across these organizations, several themes unite our work with theirs:

Experiential learning – embedding students and fellows in real government settings, where they can contribute to meaningful projects and learn directly from practitioners.
Applied research – using data, rigorous analysis, and careful evaluation to inform decisions and redesign systems for better outcomes.
Regional focus, broader relevance – drawing on Greater Boston as a hub of innovation while producing insights that travel well to other jurisdictions.
Investment in leaders – cultivating the skills, networks, and values needed for long-term careers in public service, at every level of government.

The Field Lab is proud to count these centers and foundations among our closest intellectual neighbors and collaborators. Together, we are building a community of practice that links classrooms to city halls, research to results, and the next generation of public leaders to the communities they serve.

Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation

The Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation partners with leading institutions in Boston to nurture emerging leaders in public policy, medical research, mental health, and the arts. The Foundation has played a pivotal role in establishing and sustaining the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard Kennedy School and the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at Boston College, among other initiatives.

Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston strives to improve the governance of Greater Boston by strengthening connections among the region's scholars, students, and civic leaders. A university-wide entity housed at the Harvard Kennedy School, the institute pursues this mission by promoting emerging leaders, producing new ideas, and stimulating informed discussion. The institute was founded and funded by the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation which promotes emerging leaders in greater Boston.

Government Performance Lab

The Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL) is an applied research lab based in the School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We help governments identify existing challenges, design possible solutions, test and demonstrate effectiveness, and scale promising practices. We provide this assistance with a team of highly trained professional fellows under the leadership of HKS professor and economist Jeffrey Liebman.

Transition Term

Launched in 2018, Transition Term is a nonpartisan program that matches newly elected leaders with teams of HKS students who join them full-time for two weeks during the Kennedy School’s January Term. Students are selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants and help accelerate projects based on each host administration’s priorities and rapidly evolving needs that arise during the intense early weeks of governing.

Taubman Center for State and Local Government

The Taubman Center for State and Local Government works to support current and future public sector leaders in improving the governance of states, counties, metropolitan regions, and cities through research, teaching, programs, and convenings. The center and its affiliated institutes and programs are the Kennedy School of Government's focal points for activities that address state and local governance and intergovernmental relations.

Center for Geographic Analysis

The Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) was established in 2006 to support research and teaching across all disciplines in the University as they relate to spatial data, methods, technologies, and training. CGA is home to spatial researchers and data scientists, as well as experts in GIS services, datasets, and software, AI, geographic data science and big data.