Our 2026 CIES activities: 4 ways to engage with the What Works Hub for Global Education at the upcoming CIES Conference 2026

At the What Works Hub for Global Education, we’re excited to meet, hear from and collaborate with you at the upcoming CIES Conference 2026. If you’ll be in San Francisco to attend the conference, we hope you’ll join us at one of our Hub-organised panels, a workshop, or a networking event – as well as additional panels organised by Hub partners and many more sessions featuring Hub team members.

What’s on our calendars for CIES 2026? Read on for a spotlight of four key Hub-organised events.

29 March: Community of Practice networking event

• Date: Sunday, 29th March 2026
• Time: 6–8 pm

This event is designed to provide an opportunity for our friends and colleagues who are attending CIES 2026 to connect, exchange insights and network with the Community of Practice. If you’d like to join us in person at our venue, which is four minutes’ walk from the conference hotel, you can register using our online form.

The event will begin with opening remarks, followed by networking over soft drinks and light refreshments.

28 March: Panel on evaluation approaches at scale for foundational learning programmes

• Full title: Beyond RCTs: Developing and implementing right fit rigorous evaluation approaches toward improving children’s foundational learning at scale
• Date: Saturday, 28 March
• Time: 1:15 to 2:30 pm
• Location: Fourth Floor, Union Square 21

This panel brings together implementers, practitioners and researchers to showcase innovative approaches to understanding – and iteratively improving – the implementation of education programmes operating within government systems at scale. Panellists will reflect on their experiences implementing innovative and iterative evaluation methods, including A/B testing, evaluation of programmes at scale, and additional topics in implementation research.

28 March: Implementation measurement workshop

• Full title: Implementation Measurement: How to capture and improve delivery of education programs
• Date: Saturday, 28 March
• Time: 4:30–5:45 pm
• Location: Ballroom Level, Continental 8

In this workshop, the What Works Hub for Global Education will outline a practical approach with useful tools and common principles to help researchers and implementers track and compare implementation across a range of education programmes.

1 April: Panel on evidence uptake in education

• Full title: Evidence on evidence uptake across the education ecosystem: Parents, teachers, nongovernmental organisations and policymakers
• Date: Wednesday, 1 April
• Time: 9:45 to 11:00 am
• Location: Ballroom Level, Franciscan D

Amid global financial pressures, understanding how key stakeholders respond to different types of evidence as well as the enabling factors that result in evidence uptake is an increasingly important area of research within education – particularly within low- and middle-income countries. This panel, featuring government officials and researchers, highlights four papers that investigate questions of evidence uptake by education stakeholders across different contexts.

And lastly . . .

We’ll be active on social media throughout the 2026 CIES Conference, so follow us on LinkedIn, X, Bluesky and Facebook to stay updated on our activities – whether you’re in San Francisco in person or not.