Nicholas Burnett

Nicholas Burnett is an independent consultant and Senior Research Fellow at the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), along with Results for Development (R4D). He was previously Managing Director at R4D (where he founded the Global Education Practice), UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Director of the UNESCO Education for All Global Monitoring Report, and World Bank Human Development Manager for West and Central Africa. He was educated in economics at Oxford (BA), Harvard (Henry Fellow) and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (MA, PhD). He also serves on the NORRAG Consultative Committee, on the Board of Americans for UNESCO, on the Advisory Boards of the United Nations Association of the US National Capital Area and the Global Business School Network, chairs the Youth Bootcamps Brain Trust for Educate!, is a Special Professor of International Education Policy at Nottingham University in the UK, has been a Visiting Professor at Hiroshima and Kobe universities, and chaired the Board of UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) from 2017-21.

The Research Fellows Program brings together experts from diverse backgrounds to provide intellectual leadership and technical support to strategic areas for 3ie. Our fellows work with our global team and are uniquely positioned to lead or support new and ongoing initiatives and programs in their areas of expertise.