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Alaka Holla is Program Manager of the World Bank¡¯s Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund. She received her PhD in Economics from Brown University in 2007 and completed post-doctoral work at Harvard University and Innovations for Poverty Action. After joining the World Bank, she has worked in both research and operational settings across a diverse set of country contexts. Her research has focused on the quality of service delivery, discrimination, early childhood development and education, and cost analysis. 

Emily Beam is an associate professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Vermont. She received her Ph.D in economics and public policy from the University of Michigan in 2013 and her B.S. in economics, mathematics, and Spanish from the University of Michigan in 2006. Emily's research interests are in labor and development economics, with a particular focus on employment and education policy, migration, fertility and marriage, and the role of incomplete information and behavioral biases on individual decision-making.

David McKenzie is a Lead Economist in the Development Research Group, Finance and Private Sector Development Unit. He received his B.Com.(Hons)/B.A. from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University. His main research is on migration, enterprise development, and methodology for use with developing country data. He has published more than 150 articles in journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review and all leading development journals.

Elisabetta Aurino is a development economist working on child and adolescent development.  Her research focuses on how to contribute to positive societal change through better food security, health, and education for all children. She is an Assistant Professor of Development Economics at the University of Barcelona School of Economics, a Jacobs Foundation Fellow (2022-2024) and a European Research Council Starting grantee (2023-2028). Her work is highly interdisciplinary, lying at the intersection of economics, global health, education, and developmental psychology.

Julieta Trias is a Senior Economist in the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank. She works on early childhood development, cash transfers, and social protection systems. She leads the design, implementation and management of a range of World Bank operations and provides technical assistance to governments. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University College London (UK), a Master in Economics from the National University of La Plata (Argentina) and a Bachelor in Economics from the National University of Cuyo (Argentina).

Koen Geven is a Senior Economist in the Education Global Practice of the World Bank, where he primarily works on South Asia. His research focuses on the dynamics between inequality, public policy, and education. He is also interested in research on the measurement of learning crisis and its causes. Koen holds a PhD in Social and Political Science from the European University Institute.

Lee Crawfurd is a research fellow at the Center for Global Development. His research focuses on education policy in low and middle income countries. Previously he was an advisor with government in Rwanda, South Sudan, and the UK, and a consultant for international organisations and NGOs such as the World Bank, AfDB, and ADB. He has a PhD in economics from the University of Sussex and has studied at the University of Oxford and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Crist¨®bal Cobo is a Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank, focusing on the effective and appropriate use of new technologies in education in middle- and low-income countries and emerging markets around the world. Dr. Cobo spent 20 years working at the intersection of future of learning, cultures of innovation and human-centered technologies across both developed and developing countries. Crist¨®bal received his Ph.D. in human-computer interaction from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Ana Laura Mart¨ªnez is Coordinator of Technical Cooperation for Latin America and Portuguese Speaking African countries at the Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society, Cetic.br/NIC.br, under the auspices of UNESCO. She is a regular consultant to the International Institute for Educational Planning, Buenos Aires Office for Latin America, and has carried out consultancy services for the Center for Innovation in Brazilian Education and other regional and international organizations. she holds a Bachellor?s degree in Sociology from Universidad de la Rep¨²blica (Uruguay) and a Master?s Degree in Sociology and Education from Columbia University (New York).

Joel Mitchell is the technical lead and director at Jigsaw. He works across research outputs, managing the delivery of strategic research portfolios (e.g. rapid evidence reviews and country scoping reviews), as well as leading on specific research outputs, and ensuring their findings are able to be applied through engagement channels such as the Helpdesk. He worked in education and health in Mauritania and Sudan for several years before becoming one of the founders of Jigsaw, where he is the Director and Technical Lead.