Harris Policy Labs: Policy Education Beyond the Classroom

In Harris Policy Labs, teams of graduate students apply policy analysis tools and methodologies learned in their coursework to develop solutions for your organization’s real-world policy challenges.

Explore the benefits of working with Harris students, see recent Harris Policy Labs clients, and read recent profiles of Harris Policy Labs at work.

The Program

Guided by a Harris faculty member and a professional advisor, students receive course credit and a grade for their Policy Labs work. The teams meet regularly with clients over the course of the project, leading up to a final presentation to your organization’s senior leadership.

The Students

Harris students are passionate, driven, and committed to positive change. At Harris, students learn to follow the data, put evidence first, and elevate information over instinct. Rigorous coursework in microeconomics, statistics, analytical politics, and organizational theory equips students with the quantitative and analytical skills to evaluate and recommend sound policies in a variety of contexts.

Client Benefits

Working with Harris students allows your organization to:

  • Leverage an objective and talented student consulting team to analyze a complex policy issue.
  • Tap into the specialized skillset of Harris graduate students to gain needed research and data analysis insights.
  • Interact with promising candidates for internships, staff positions, and consulting work.
  • Offer future policy leaders a unique opportunity to broaden networks and gain real-world experience.

The Clients

Policy Labs teams have served clients operating in a variety of policy areas across the public, nonprofit, and private sectors, from startups to established organizations.

Current and past Policy Labs clients include:

Current and past Policy Labs clients

The Impact

Harris Policy Labs works with clients across a range of policy fields. Clients rely on Policy Labs deliverables to advance their organization’s work—from implementing recommendations, to leveraging analyses to support policy changes or funding requests, to using research to inform and guide next steps. Several clients have hired Harris students for internships or jobs after a Policy Labs project was completed.

 

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