Michelle Kaffenberger is the Director of Evidence Translation at the What Works Hub for Global Education, where she leads efforts to connect research, policy, and practice in support of improved foundational learning outcomes. She specializes in synthesizing and translating evidence to make research more actionable for policymakers and practitioners and strengthen evidence-informed decision-making in education.
Previously, Michelle served as Deputy Director of Research with the RISE Programme at the University of Oxford, where she led research on aligning education systems for learning and oversaw the programme’s strategic and research activities. She has also been a Senior Research Advisor at the World Bank, helping to launch a global partnership for scaling the graduation approach through government social protection systems.
Michelle has advised bilateral and multilateral organisations, philanthropic foundations, NGOs, and private sector actors. Her research has been featured in The Economist, Financial Times, CNN, and national newspapers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Indonesia. She holds a PhD in Global Development from the University of East Anglia and an MA in Development Economics from Vanderbilt University.
