The People Lab
@thepeoplelab.bsky.social
Research lab led by @elizabethlinos.bsky.social at Harvard Kennedy School.
We build evidence on the people in government and the communities they are called to serve.
We build evidence on the people in government and the communities they are called to serve.
We’re feeling extra thankful this week — for our partners, our team, and the public servants who make government work every day. Wishing you a warm and restful Thanksgiving!
November 25, 2025 at 6:14 PM
We’re feeling extra thankful this week — for our partners, our team, and the public servants who make government work every day. Wishing you a warm and restful Thanksgiving!
It’s the final day of #APPAM2025! Here’s where to catch The People Lab team this morning...
November 15, 2025 at 2:40 PM
It’s the final day of #APPAM2025! Here’s where to catch The People Lab team this morning...
#APPAM2025 day two! Here is where you can find The People Lab today...
November 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
#APPAM2025 day two! Here is where you can find The People Lab today...
Great conversations, thoughtful sessions, and RCT tattoos—what more could you want from a day on evidence-informed policymaking?
Thanks to @j-palna.bsky.social, LEO, and King County for hosting the Evidence Matters Convening and for bringing so many good ideas together.
Thanks to @j-palna.bsky.social, LEO, and King County for hosting the Evidence Matters Convening and for bringing so many good ideas together.
November 13, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Great conversations, thoughtful sessions, and RCT tattoos—what more could you want from a day on evidence-informed policymaking?
Thanks to @j-palna.bsky.social, LEO, and King County for hosting the Evidence Matters Convening and for bringing so many good ideas together.
Thanks to @j-palna.bsky.social, LEO, and King County for hosting the Evidence Matters Convening and for bringing so many good ideas together.
Headed to #APPAM2025 this week? Catch The People Lab team presenting new work on public management, behavioral science, and evidence use in government. If you’re attending, come find us and say hello! Coming up today...
November 13, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Headed to #APPAM2025 this week? Catch The People Lab team presenting new work on public management, behavioral science, and evidence use in government. If you’re attending, come find us and say hello! Coming up today...
Such a pleasure to join so many brilliant colleagues at #BIGdifferenceBC 2025!
@elizabethlinos.bsky.social shared research on building governments that work by supporting the workforce, improving resident interactions, and making evidence useful and used.
Thanks to #UBCdibs, #BCbig & #WorkSafeBC!
@elizabethlinos.bsky.social shared research on building governments that work by supporting the workforce, improving resident interactions, and making evidence useful and used.
Thanks to #UBCdibs, #BCbig & #WorkSafeBC!
November 13, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Such a pleasure to join so many brilliant colleagues at #BIGdifferenceBC 2025!
@elizabethlinos.bsky.social shared research on building governments that work by supporting the workforce, improving resident interactions, and making evidence useful and used.
Thanks to #UBCdibs, #BCbig & #WorkSafeBC!
@elizabethlinos.bsky.social shared research on building governments that work by supporting the workforce, improving resident interactions, and making evidence useful and used.
Thanks to #UBCdibs, #BCbig & #WorkSafeBC!
Join The People Lab! We’re hiring a Research Associate Fellow to run RCTs, design survey experiments, & study evidence use in gov’t.
2+ yrs of post-grad experience in applied behavioral science or public management research required.
👉 Apply: peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
2+ yrs of post-grad experience in applied behavioral science or public management research required.
👉 Apply: peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
Careers
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu
October 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Join The People Lab! We’re hiring a Research Associate Fellow to run RCTs, design survey experiments, & study evidence use in gov’t.
2+ yrs of post-grad experience in applied behavioral science or public management research required.
👉 Apply: peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
2+ yrs of post-grad experience in applied behavioral science or public management research required.
👉 Apply: peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
We’re thrilled to welcome two new visiting fellows to The People Lab this year! Meet Florian Keppeler and Josephine Arnfred, whose research is shaping the future of public management and leadership.
October 3, 2025 at 8:59 PM
We’re thrilled to welcome two new visiting fellows to The People Lab this year! Meet Florian Keppeler and Josephine Arnfred, whose research is shaping the future of public management and leadership.
Reposted by The People Lab
Really looking forward to talking about the work of @thepeoplelab.bsky.social and thinking together about what comes next!
Looking forward to @elizabethlinos.bsky.social's Politics & Policy talk to @brown.edu students next Monday, hosted by @taubmancenter.bsky.social @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social
events.brown.edu/taubman/even...
events.brown.edu/taubman/even...
Politics & Policy Lunch: Public Sector Innovation with Professor Elizabeth Linos
Join us for the Politics & Policy Lunch series featuring Professor Elizabeth Linos, Faculty Director of The People Lab at Harvard Kennedy Schoo...
events.brown.edu
September 26, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Really looking forward to talking about the work of @thepeoplelab.bsky.social and thinking together about what comes next!
The rhetoric around public service matters. Our new @harvardkennedy.bsky.social funded project will study whether shifting narratives about public servants can increase trust, support for government, and interest in public sector work.
Read more here 👉 www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Read more here 👉 www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Kennedy School Funds $20,000 Grants to Investigate Early Impacts of Trump Administration | News | The Harvard Crimson
Six Harvard Kennedy School projects received grants of up to $20,000 to research the effects of the second Trump administration on public opinion and democratic institutions.
www.thecrimson.com
September 26, 2025 at 3:33 PM
The rhetoric around public service matters. Our new @harvardkennedy.bsky.social funded project will study whether shifting narratives about public servants can increase trust, support for government, and interest in public sector work.
Read more here 👉 www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Read more here 👉 www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Thank you for the warm welcome during Elizabeth Linos’s visit to 🇪🇪 Estonia, where she joined great conversations with Estonian, Latvian, and Finish public servants about digital service excellence, data-informed practices, administrative burden, and making evidence part of everyday policymaking.
September 9, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Thank you for the warm welcome during Elizabeth Linos’s visit to 🇪🇪 Estonia, where she joined great conversations with Estonian, Latvian, and Finish public servants about digital service excellence, data-informed practices, administrative burden, and making evidence part of everyday policymaking.
New in @pnas.org! Light-touch government outreach boosted take-up of the Child Tax Credit & stimulus payments among very low-income families—while higher-touch strategies added little.
By: @elizabethlinos.bsky.social, J. Lasky-Fink, V. Dorie, @jrothst.bsky.social
🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
By: @elizabethlinos.bsky.social, J. Lasky-Fink, V. Dorie, @jrothst.bsky.social
🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Interventions to bolster benefits take-up: Assessing intensity, framing, and targeting of government outreach | PNAS
Behaviorally informed “nudges” are widely used in government outreach but are often
seen as too modest to address poverty at scale. In four field e...
www.pnas.org
September 9, 2025 at 7:48 PM
New in @pnas.org! Light-touch government outreach boosted take-up of the Child Tax Credit & stimulus payments among very low-income families—while higher-touch strategies added little.
By: @elizabethlinos.bsky.social, J. Lasky-Fink, V. Dorie, @jrothst.bsky.social
🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
By: @elizabethlinos.bsky.social, J. Lasky-Fink, V. Dorie, @jrothst.bsky.social
🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
🚨 We’re excited to share The People Lab’s 2025 Annual Report!
Link 👉 peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/u...
Here’s some of what you’ll find inside:
Link 👉 peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/u...
Here’s some of what you’ll find inside:
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu
September 2, 2025 at 4:32 PM
🚨 We’re excited to share The People Lab’s 2025 Annual Report!
Link 👉 peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/u...
Here’s some of what you’ll find inside:
Link 👉 peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/u...
Here’s some of what you’ll find inside:
Don’t miss our next newsletter—coming soon! 📩
We only send a couple each year, with our biggest updates + findings.
👉 Sign up here: harvard.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...
We only send a couple each year, with our biggest updates + findings.
👉 Sign up here: harvard.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...
The People Lab
The People Lab Email Forms
harvard.us9.list-manage.com
August 28, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Don’t miss our next newsletter—coming soon! 📩
We only send a couple each year, with our biggest updates + findings.
👉 Sign up here: harvard.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...
We only send a couple each year, with our biggest updates + findings.
👉 Sign up here: harvard.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...
🚨 ICYMI: The People Lab is growing — and we’re hiring!
We’ve got two exciting opportunities:
🔹 Research Associate Fellow (rolling review)
🔹 Senior Project Manager (first review Sept 2, 2025)
Learn more + apply here 👉 peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
We’ve got two exciting opportunities:
🔹 Research Associate Fellow (rolling review)
🔹 Senior Project Manager (first review Sept 2, 2025)
Learn more + apply here 👉 peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
Careers
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu
August 27, 2025 at 6:32 PM
🚨 ICYMI: The People Lab is growing — and we’re hiring!
We’ve got two exciting opportunities:
🔹 Research Associate Fellow (rolling review)
🔹 Senior Project Manager (first review Sept 2, 2025)
Learn more + apply here 👉 peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
We’ve got two exciting opportunities:
🔹 Research Associate Fellow (rolling review)
🔹 Senior Project Manager (first review Sept 2, 2025)
Learn more + apply here 👉 peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
🚨 We’re hiring a Senior Project Manager!
We are looking for an experienced project leader to manage complex, high-impact projects from start to finish—aligning research, operations, and strategy to improve how government serves the public.
Apply here: careers.harvard.edu/job/senior-p...
We are looking for an experienced project leader to manage complex, high-impact projects from start to finish—aligning research, operations, and strategy to improve how government serves the public.
Apply here: careers.harvard.edu/job/senior-p...
Senior Project Manager, The People Lab
careers.harvard.edu
August 11, 2025 at 9:57 PM
🚨 We’re hiring a Senior Project Manager!
We are looking for an experienced project leader to manage complex, high-impact projects from start to finish—aligning research, operations, and strategy to improve how government serves the public.
Apply here: careers.harvard.edu/job/senior-p...
We are looking for an experienced project leader to manage complex, high-impact projects from start to finish—aligning research, operations, and strategy to improve how government serves the public.
Apply here: careers.harvard.edu/job/senior-p...
Shoutout to our talented Du Bois Scholar, Jonora, for an outstanding final presentation! Her thoughtful lit review is already helping guide a new research venture at The People Lab. Grateful for your summer with us and excited for what’s next! 🙌
August 8, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Shoutout to our talented Du Bois Scholar, Jonora, for an outstanding final presentation! Her thoughtful lit review is already helping guide a new research venture at The People Lab. Grateful for your summer with us and excited for what’s next! 🙌
Reposted by The People Lab
We're getting hundreds and hundreds of applications for this RA fellows position so if you're planning on applying, applying before August 14th is a great idea. Also, you got this! Take the leap and apply!
🚨 TPL is hiring a Research Associate Fellow! Are you passionate about using evidence to improve how government serves the public? Do you want to use your research & analytical skills for both social impact and cutting edge research?
Apply here -> peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
Apply here -> peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
Careers
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu
August 5, 2025 at 1:28 PM
We're getting hundreds and hundreds of applications for this RA fellows position so if you're planning on applying, applying before August 14th is a great idea. Also, you got this! Take the leap and apply!
#Wilmasreview
Wilma 🐶 may be hesitant about making the next step, like people who people who want to take their next career step, maybe into the public sector. New research by Sciepura, Wall and @elizabethlinos.bsky.social shows that...
1/🧵
Wilma 🐶 may be hesitant about making the next step, like people who people who want to take their next career step, maybe into the public sector. New research by Sciepura, Wall and @elizabethlinos.bsky.social shows that...
1/🧵
August 4, 2025 at 5:26 PM
We're so excited that you're excited about this position! We can't respond to the many many emails we're getting so here is a FAQ -> peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/u...
July 29, 2025 at 3:15 PM
We're so excited that you're excited about this position! We can't respond to the many many emails we're getting so here is a FAQ -> peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/u...
🚨 TPL is hiring a Research Associate Fellow! Are you passionate about using evidence to improve how government serves the public? Do you want to use your research & analytical skills for both social impact and cutting edge research?
Apply here -> peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
Apply here -> peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
Careers
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu
July 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
🚨 TPL is hiring a Research Associate Fellow! Are you passionate about using evidence to improve how government serves the public? Do you want to use your research & analytical skills for both social impact and cutting edge research?
Apply here -> peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
Apply here -> peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/
Ending programs like PMF means fewer skilled young professionals in government just when we need them most.
Read @elizabethlinos.bsky.social's interview with @harvardkennedy.bsky.social on how fellowships build a stronger public sector workforce:
www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-rese...
Read @elizabethlinos.bsky.social's interview with @harvardkennedy.bsky.social on how fellowships build a stronger public sector workforce:
www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-rese...
Public sector fellowship programs are key to getting young people into government. When these programs are eroded, talented workers go elsewhere.
Elizabeth Linos, Public Policy and Management Professor at Harvard Kennedy School, examines how public sector fellowship programs can help recruit and retain government talent.
www.hks.harvard.edu
July 16, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Ending programs like PMF means fewer skilled young professionals in government just when we need them most.
Read @elizabethlinos.bsky.social's interview with @harvardkennedy.bsky.social on how fellowships build a stronger public sector workforce:
www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-rese...
Read @elizabethlinos.bsky.social's interview with @harvardkennedy.bsky.social on how fellowships build a stronger public sector workforce:
www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-rese...
We’re so excited to share that Giovanny Martinez Rodriguez, who was one of our wonderful undergraduate fellows, has started a new role as TPL’s very first pre-doctoral fellow! Congratulations, Giovanny—we are thrilled to have you on our team!
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/team/giovann...
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/team/giovann...
Giovanny Martínez Rodríguez
Giovanny Martínez Rodríguez is a research fellow at The People Lab where he supports a variety of projects aimed to empower the public sector and the communities they are called to serve. He holds a
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu
July 1, 2025 at 6:40 PM
We’re so excited to share that Giovanny Martinez Rodriguez, who was one of our wonderful undergraduate fellows, has started a new role as TPL’s very first pre-doctoral fellow! Congratulations, Giovanny—we are thrilled to have you on our team!
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/team/giovann...
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/team/giovann...
🌟 It’s been a privilege to have @karlemilbendtsen.bsky.social as a visiting fellow at The People Lab. We’ve enjoyed engaging with your research on administrative errors, policy complexity, and more. Thank you, Karl-Emil, for your time and expertise!
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/team/karl-em...
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/team/karl-em...
Karl-Emil Bendtsed
Karl-Emil is a visiting fellow at The People Lab. He is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen, specializing in public administration and policy. His ongo...
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu
June 27, 2025 at 2:49 PM
🌟 It’s been a privilege to have @karlemilbendtsen.bsky.social as a visiting fellow at The People Lab. We’ve enjoyed engaging with your research on administrative errors, policy complexity, and more. Thank you, Karl-Emil, for your time and expertise!
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/team/karl-em...
peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/team/karl-em...
Our latest n=9 field test involved waffle cones. Results: instantly raised happiness scores by 200%. 🍦 #SweetIncentives #NudgeAndFudge #ConeformityBias
June 25, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Our latest n=9 field test involved waffle cones. Results: instantly raised happiness scores by 200%. 🍦 #SweetIncentives #NudgeAndFudge #ConeformityBias