Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Florian Keppeler is an associate professor at the King Frederik Center for Public Leadership at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University (Denmark). His research focuses broadly on publ...

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · 4d

We’re also excited to welcome @flokeppeler.bsky.social!

He focuses on public administration, HR in the public sector, and digital innovation. We are lucky to be collaborating with him on a large megastudy on health worker recruitment (more to come soon!)

peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/team/florian...

Florian Keppeler

Politics & Policy Lunch: Public Sector Innovation with Professor Elizabeth Linos

1 1

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · 4d

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.

2 2

Reposted by The People Lab

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · 12d

Really looking forward to talking about the work of @thepeoplelab.bsky.social and thinking together about what comes next!

Eric Patashnik @ericpatashnik.bsky.social · 12d

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...

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

1 5

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · 12d

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...

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

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · 29d

Special thanks to Heidi Reinson, and Helelyn Tammsaar for their incredible hospitality and for making the visit so impactful!

Interventions to bolster benefits take-up: Assessing intensity, framing, and targeting of government outreach | PNAS

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · 29d

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.

1 1

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · 29d

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/...

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

2 7

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Sep 2

✅ Launch of the first national survey of city employees to understand workforce needs
✅ Development of PolicyBot, an AI-powered tool that helps decision makers quickly access, interpret, and apply research

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Sep 2

✅ Fellowship programs boost long-term government retention by 30 percentage points
✅ A first-of-its-kind megastudy with Denmark’s Ministry of Health testing how to recruit thousands of cross-border nurses
✅ New approaches to improving access to housing stability and safety net benefits

1 1

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨 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:

The People Lab Email Forms

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Aug 28

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=...

The People Lab

harvard.us9.list-manage.com

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Aug 27

🚨 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/

Careers

Senior Project Manager, The People Lab

1 4

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Aug 11

🚨 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...

careers.harvard.edu

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Aug 8

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

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Aug 5

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!

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Jul 25

🚨 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/

Careers

3 4

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Aug 4

What an ulti-mutt honor to have Wilma sniff out our research!

#Wilmasreview 🐶

Florian Keppeler @flokeppeler.bsky.social · Aug 3

#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/🧵

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Jul 29

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...

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Jul 25

🚨 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/

Careers

Public sector fellowship programs are key to getting young people into government. When these programs are eroded, talented workers go elsewhere.

13 19

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Jul 16

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...

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

3 7

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Jul 1

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...

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

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...

1 2

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Jun 27

🌟 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...

Karl-Emil Bendtsed

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Jun 25

Our latest n=9 field test involved waffle cones. Results: instantly raised happiness scores by 200%. 🍦 #SweetIncentives #NudgeAndFudge #ConeformityBias

Interventions to Bolster Benefits Take-Up: Assessing Intensity, Framing, and Targeting of Government Outreach

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Jun 24

We find that light-touch outreach (emails and texts) led to significant increases in benefit claims at low cost, while more intensive methods provided minimal added impact.

Read the full paper here: www.hks.harvard.edu/publications...

Behaviorally-informed “nudges” are widely used in government outreach, but face criticism for being too modest to address poverty at scale. Indeed, when used to increase the take-up of social safety n...

www.hks.harvard.edu