# Events ## Conferences Throughout the 2025-26 academic year, under the leadership of Professor of Practice Emiliana Vegas, ELLA has brought together HGSE students and alumni, Harvard College students, and practitioners based in Venezuela and in the United States to co-create a strategy to build the foundations for an education system that provides every Venezuelan the opportunities to acquire the skills, competencies and dispositions to reach their full potential. This conference is part of the initiative "Education: A Key Pillar for Venezuela’s Transformation." [ Read more about the initiative arrow\_circle\_right ](https://ella.gse.harvard.edu/education-key-pillar-venezuelas-transformation) [### Beyond Oil: Education for Growth, Inclusion, and Human Flourishing in Venezuela ](/event/beyond-oil-education-growth-inclusion-and-human-flourishing-venezuela)May 12, 2026 | All day | Askwith Auditorium In Person Join us at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) for Beyond Oil: Education for Growth, Inclusion, and Human Flourishing in Venezuela, a one-day conference hosted by the Education Lab for Latin America (ELLA). On Tuesday, May 12, 2026, from 9:00... ![Beyond Oil Conference Logo ](/sites/g/files/omnuum12271/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/colored-logo.png?itok=o7RnXXiu) ## Workshop for the São Paulo Department of Education GEAR-UP and ELLA facilitated in April 2025 a workshop for the São Paulo Department of Education, led by Faculty Chair [Emiliana Vegas](https://www.gse.harvard.edu/directory/faculty/emiliana-vegas) and distinguished educators such as [Thomas Kane](https://www.gse.harvard.edu/directory/faculty/thomas-kane), [Carrie Conaway](https://www.gse.harvard.edu/directory/faculty/carrie-conaway), [Alejandro Ganimian](https://www.gse.harvard.edu/directory/faculty/alejandro-ganimian), [Nuno Crato](https://www.college-de-france.fr/en/person/nuno-crato) and [Liz City.](https://www.gse.harvard.edu/directory/faculty/elizabeth-city) Over three days, they engaged in sessions focused on enhancing teacher effectiveness, accelerating learning recovery after COVID-19, lessons from the Portugal case, addressing learner variability, leading learning, and using evidence to scale impact. [ Full article arrow\_circle\_right ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid/voices/fixing-learning-illusion-insights-global-education-experts) ![Sao Paulo Workshop at HGSE by ELLA](/sites/g/files/omnuum12271/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2025-10/GF%20Sao%20Paolo%20Blog.jpg?itok=aDbS20nl) ## Latam Education Talks Every month, ELLA organizes for its students talks by education experts in Latin America. [### Juan Saavedra - Improving Agency by Improving Mental Health for Adolescents in Colombia ](/event/juan-saavedra-improving-agency-improving-mental-health-adolescents-colombia)March 11, 2026 | 2:00PM - 3:00PM EDT In Person Our guest speaker was Juan E. Saavedra, Lecturer in Public Policy at HKS, a faculty affiliate at CID and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Dr. Saavedra currently teaches the economics sequence in the MPP core... ![Juan Saavedra Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum12271/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2026-02/juan%20saavedra.jpg?itok=ypqt0e-E) [### Juan Ariel Jiménez - Teacher policies: lessons from the Dominican Republic ](/event/juan-ariel-jimenez-teacher-policies-lessons-dominican-republic)February 18, 2026 | 4:00PM - 5:00PM EST In Person Our guest speaker was Juan Ariel Jimenez, Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is an economist with a master's degree in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from Harvard University and a master's degree in Infrastructure... ![Juan Ariel Jimenez](/sites/g/files/omnuum12271/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2026-02/juan%20ariel%20jimenez.jpeg?itok=A7LW1hcY) [### Susana Claro - School accountability and socio-emotional learning in Chile ](/event/susana-claro-school-accountability-and-socio-emotional-learning-chile)November 18, 2025 | 5:30PM - 6:30PM EST In Person Our guest speaker was Susana Claro, Chen Yidan Visiting Fellow, who will also be teaching the Fall 2 course "A811C5: Building Policy: Three Chilean Case Studies, from Nonprofits and Government, in Policy Development". Susana Claro is an associate... ![Susana Claro](/sites/g/files/omnuum12271/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-11/susana-claro_0.jpg?itok=nvnTxVf4) [### Thiago Alves - Public school costs and teachers' working conditions in Brazil ](/event/thiago-alves-public-school-costs-and-teachers-working-conditions-brazil)November 5, 2025 | 3:00AM - 4:00AM EST In Person Our guest speaker was Thiago Alves, visiting scholar at HGSE this year. Thiago is an adjunct professor of Public Administration at Federal University of Goias in Brazil. He teaches Education Finance, Public Policy and Educational Data Analysis courses on... ![Thiago Alves](/sites/g/files/omnuum12271/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-11/Thiago_photo_formal_0.jpg?itok=iqLYlC15) [### Alejandro Ganimian - How to Increase School Attendance at Scale? Descriptive, Correlational, and Experimental Evidence from Argentina ](/event/alejandro-ganimian-how-increase-school-attendance-scale-descriptive-correlational-and)October 15, 2025 | 3:00AM - 4:00AM EDT In Person Our guest speaker was Alejandro Ganimian, Visiting Associate Professor of Education at HGSE, who will also be teaching the course Economics of Education in Low- and Middle-Income Countries this coming spring. Prof. Ganimian is an Associate Professor of... ![Alejandro Ganimian headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum12271/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-10/alejandro_ganimian%20%281%29.jpg?itok=BZIBUzVN)