Harvard in the World
Harvard in the World
“The desire to understand the world urges us to ask ‘Why?’
The hope to improve the world compels us to ask ‘Why not?’”
—Harvard President Claudine Gay
Our global community
Harvard faculty, students, and alumni compose a global network of researchers, scholars, and artists exploring and improving health, law, religion, social science, government, education, business, news, justice, design, and the environment around the world.
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80+ languages
are taught at Harvard, including the recent addition of Filipino
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25.6 million learners
from all across the globe have enrolled in courses on Harvard Online
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20 locations abroad
that link Harvard faculty and students to local scholars, businesses, and communities
Asia
From the cross-cultural studies at Harvard’s Asia Center to the comprehensive East Asian collections of the Harvard Yenching Library, Harvard enjoys a wealth of resources to help scholars explore and celebrate Asia.
Resources
This Graduate School of Design thesis focused on the Mekong River, the lifeblood of countless wildlife and tens of millions of people across six countries.
Read MoreFarming
Gramhal, founded by Harvard alum Vikas Birhma, provides warehousing that allows farmers in India to store their crops and wait until prices improve.
Medicine
Harun Kundi, a Harvard Medical School alum and interventional cardiologist in Turkey, researched frailty and cardiac complications in patients with COVID-19.
Technology
Alum Zeerak Ahmed hopes to build a programming infrastructure that developers could use to produce software in Urdu, or other non-Latin languages.
Security
The goal of the Korea Project is to foster a deeper understanding of security challenges on the Korean Peninsula and to work to effectively address them.
Australia/Oceania
Harvard students, faculty, and alumni have the opportunity to support and explore this region through study abroad programs in Australia and New Zealand, collaboration with schools through the Leading Learning that Matters program, and lifelong learning and networking with the Harvard Club of Australia.
Cancer research and support
Alum Justine Smyth has set an ambitious goal for New Zealand, one she believes can be achieved through early detection and ever improving breast cancer treatment: zero deaths.
Educational leaders
In 2019, the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s “Principals’ Centre in Australia” program, which is tailored to regional challenges and concerns, was held at the University of Sydney Business School in Australia.
Learning from history
Carleigh Beriont’s dissertation drew on archival sources and oral history to examine the relationships between the Marshallese, American and Marshallese Protestant missionaries, and the US military.
A good neighbor
Alum Paul Phillips cofounded Kai-Viti Water, which bottles and sells artesian water from the Fiji Islands. The company dedicates profits to support basic education needs of children in the islands.
Antarctica
From the Casey Station in East Antarctica to the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, home of the South Pole Telescope, Harvard researchers are investigating everything from climate change to astrophysics on the coldest continent.
Life on the ice
Every year, scientists travel to the inhospitable South Pole to conduct studies under conditions found nowhere else on earth.
Africa
The Harvard community’s impact in Africa can be seen in the work of the Africa Research Center, Middle East and North Africa Research Center, the Harvard Malaria Initiative, and the Harvard University Center for African Studies.”
Medicine
In 2021, a lab at the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership produced the first genetic sequence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Read MoreEducation
Toshiko Mori, a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design, opened a school in Senegal that creates community and redefines learning for children.
Economy
The Growth Lab is training students and practitioners to do economic development policy work in cities and countries across the globe.
Healthcare
Harvard School of Dental Medicine is working with the World Health Organization to address critical oral health challenges in Africa.
Leadership
In 2022, Harvard Law School brought together four female African heads of state to explore opportunities for the continent’s future advancement.
North America
Harvard initiatives in North America are vast and varied, including the Weatherhead Center’s Canada program, the Project on Indigenous Governance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, and the David Rockefeller Center’s programs in Mexico and the Caribbean.
High Arctic
The Harvard School of Dental Medicine’s Martin Nweeia is interviewing hunters and elders from more than 12 communities in the High Arctic region to document a more complete understanding of the narwhal.
Appalachia
Ph.D. candidate Eleanor Krause is exploring the impact that the decline of the coal industry has had on Appalachia and policies that can support those communities as they adapt and change.
Afro-Caribbean
Harvard’s Pluralism Project promotes religious diversity and interfaith relations through greater understanding, including exploring Caribbean practices like Rastafari and Vodou.
Uniting states
“To Serve Better” was a Harvard Gazette project exploring the connections between members of the Harvard community and neighborhoods across the United States.
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