Research & Ideas

Discover Harvard research, scholarship, and ideas shaping the world—from science and technology to policy, education, and the humanities.

A man in a suit waves while smiling, with greenery in the background.

Remembering Jack Reardon

He was Harvard’s quintessential people person.

by Jonathan Shaw

In Nganyahun village, a Red Cross volunteer and a community leader who work with GMin teach residents how to put up bed nets.

David Sengeh combats malaria by distributing bed nets in rural Sierra Leone

Combating malaria by distributing bed nets in Sierra Leone

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Man joyfully lifts a smiling child in a lively outdoor setting with other children in the background.

Christopher Higgins works at an orphanage in Busia, Uganda

A short-term stint volunteering at an orphanage in Uganda turns into much more.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

In Nairobi’s Kibera slum last August, Elizabeth Nowak ’10 worked with residents to build prototypes of VertiGrow, a vertical planter she designed with classmates in a Harvard course.

Elizabeth Nowak brings vertical agriculture to Nairobi's Kibera slum

Working with local residents to bring vertical agriculture to Nairobi’s Kibera slum

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Children from New Hope orphanage in Busia, Uganda, make their nightly walk to get water for drinking and washing. They handle all the chores themselves—an important part of director Ken Mulago’s strategy for running the orphanage. “We want our children to behave as responsible adults,” he says. “We don’t want to raise them up just to think about themselves.”

Harvard students volunteer in Africa

Students and service at a new frontier

by Elizabeth Gudrais

A woman in a white shirt is pounding rice on a patterned cloth outside.

Grace Ryan films a documentary on mental-health care in Ghana

Grace Ryan ’10 films a documentary on mental-health care, and the debate over reform, in Accra, Ghana.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

The Harvard team: Darryl Finkton ’10, Sangu Delle ’10, and Ndu Okereke ’10

Sangu Delle brings clean water to the village of Agyementi, Ghana

In Agyementi, Ghana, Sangu Delle ’10 brings clean water to a village.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Megan Shutzer ’10 first traveled to Africa during her junior year; she spent a semester traveling around Tanzania on a program learning about wildlife ecology and the conservation industry. Here, she is shown near Lake Natron in northern Tanzania, where she did a homestay with a Masai family (including some of the children shown).

Megan Shutzer interviews those who fled election violence in Kenya

In a refugee camp near Nakuru, Kenya, Megan Shutzer ’10 learns that fallout from the 2007 election violence persists.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

The University of Ghana campus

At the University of Ghana, Audrey White studies the history of the slave trade

At "slave castles" and the University of Ghana, Audrey White ’10 researches the slave trade.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Illustration by Stuart Bradford

New media transform college classrooms

Visual, audio, and interactive media are transforming the college classroom

by Craig Lambert

Courtesy of The Ayn Rand Institute

Biographical sketch of Ayn Rand

Brief life of an iconoclastic individualist

by Jennifer Burns