# STAR Lab ![Rendering of office workers walking between tree-lined buildings. ](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/2025-04/STARLAB-Hero2.jpg?itok=ej7XBVxK) The [Sustainability Transparency Accountability Research (STAR) Lab](https://starlab.wcfia.harvard.edu/) brings together a group of scholars at Harvard University and beyond conducting research assessing new business initiatives aimed at improving accountability and sustainability and generating positive social and environmental impacts. Among these initiatives are programs addressing issues in global supply chains and the impacts of multinational businesses in developing countries, climate change and environmental sustainability, discrimination and human rights, and product certification and labeling designed to empower consumers to make better-informed decisions for themselves, their communities, and the environment. STAR Lab is driven by the belief that new research is critical for the design and evaluation of these initiatives and for understanding their impacts on business, social, and environmental outcomes. Harvard has an extraordinary set of researchers working on these issues at Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School, and in the Departments of Economics and Government. STAR Lab supports collaborations among these scholars and builds partnerships between the group and a diverse set of companies, with headquarters and operations in many different countries, that are demonstrating leadership and innovation in accountability and sustainability. The research is comparative, examining how these types of initiatives work in different economic, institutional, and regulatory environments. Through these international research efforts STAR Lab fosters: - Innovation: Generating new ideas for approaches to improving accountability and sustainability while also building business value - Testing: Evaluating these innovations by conducting rigorous field experiments with companies and other partner organizations - Collaboration: Working together on research across academic disciplines and partnering with companies and other organizations in multiple countries to design and test new private-sector initiatives producing social and environmental benefits - Teaching: Creating classes and course materials to share research insights with students at Harvard and at other universities around the world - Influencing: Sharing research insights in publications oriented to academics, practitioners, and the general public in international forums. STAR Lab has been supported by the Eric M. Mindich Research Fund for the Foundations of Human Behavior at Harvard, Harvard Business School, the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard’s Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications, and by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. home [### Contact ](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cgis+Knafel,+1737+Cambridge+St,+Cambridge,+MA+02138/@42.3755419,-71.1131411,16z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x89e37744241b934f:0x70603c849cad1301!8m2!3d42.3755419!4d-71.1131411!16s%2Fg%2F1vhlz5zg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDYxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)**Catherine Nehring** 1737 Cambridge Street Cambridge, MA 02138 cnehring@wcfia .harvard.edu language [### Project Website ](https://starlab.wcfia.harvard.edu/)Visit the STAR Lab website ## Administration STAR Lab is directed by Michael J. Hiscox. Catherine Nehring is the project coordinator. [### Michael J. Hiscox ](/people/michael-hiscox) Director; STAR Lab; Faculty Associate. Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Department of Government, Harvard University. ![Michael Hiscox.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-06/hiscox_michael.jpg?h=94add92b&itok=YgQLFs1W) [### Catherine Nehring ](/people/catherine-himmel-nehring) Coordinator, STAR Lab; Assistant to Professor Michael J. Hiscox. ![Catherine Nehring.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-06/nehring_catherine.jpg?h=14d62c4b&itok=tY5LCK8U) ## Current Affiliates (2025–2026) [### Michael J. Hiscox ](/people/michael-hiscox)Director; STAR Lab; Faculty Associate. Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Department of Government, Harvard University. Research interests: International political economy; trade; economic sanctions; immigration; corporate social responsibility; and globalization. ![Michael Hiscox.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-06/hiscox_michael.jpg?h=94add92b&itok=YgQLFs1W) [### Catherine Nehring ](/people/catherine-himmel-nehring)Coordinator, STAR Lab; Assistant to Professor Michael J. Hiscox. ![Catherine Nehring.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-06/nehring_catherine.jpg?h=14d62c4b&itok=tY5LCK8U) [ View All People arrow\_circle\_right ](/people) --- ## All Programs & Projects The Weatherhead Center hosts formal programs that link faculty and affiliates working in similar research areas. Projects at the Weatherhead Center are discrete activities that connect interdisciplinary scholars, practitioners, and students working in a specific research area. Projects may include student internships, multiyear research activities, and more. Open all sections Close all sections ### Canada Program expand\_more The Canada Program, made possible by the William Lyon Mackenzie King Endowment, presents rich intellectual opportunities for Canadian studies at Harvard: graduate and undergraduate courses offered by distinguished visiting Canadianist scholars across the social sciences and professional schools, dissertation research grants for Harvard graduate students, thesis research and travel funding for Harvard undergraduates, funding for Harvard faculty-hosted Canadian studies specialists, a vibrant seminar series of esteemed Canadianist guest speakers, and an annual faculty conference. [**Learn more about the Canada Program >**](https://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/programs/canada) ### Program on US-Japan Relations expand\_more The Program on US-Japan Relations was founded in response to Japan's rise as a leading global power. We seek to advance knowledge of US-Japan relations and contemporary Japanese economy, politics, society, and culture from comparative, global, and transnational perspectives. Every academic year, we host approximately sixteen postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, and practitioner associates to conduct research on campus. We sponsor a weekly hybrid seminar series, biweekly associate workshops, Japanese Politics Online Seminar Series (JPOSS), an annual Distinguished Visitor program, conferences on Harvard campus and in Tokyo, and other events. [**Learn more about the Program on US-Japan Relations >**](https://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/programs/us_japan) ### SCANCOR at the Weatherhead Center expand\_more SCANCOR at the Weatherhead Center explores the role of formal organizations—including corporations, nongovernmental organizations, and professional associations—in the creation of international social, environmental, economic, and political conventions. Our project is a partnership between the Weatherhead Center and the Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research (SCANCOR), a membership-supported nonprofit sponsored by leading universities and business schools in Scandinavia. We welcome visiting scholars to Harvard for up to one year to use the tools of organizational science to work on international topics. While at Harvard, visitors connect with scholars from across the campus, and around Boston, through various seminars and workshops. [**Learn more about SCANCOR at the Weatherhead Center >**](https://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/projects/scancor) ### STAR Lab expand\_more The Sustainability Transparency Accountability Research (STAR) Lab brings together a group of scholars at Harvard University and beyond conducting research on new business initiatives aimed at improving accountability and sustainability as well as generating positive social and environmental impacts. Among these initiatives are programs addressing issues in global supply chains and the impacts of multinational businesses in developing countries, climate change and environmental sustainability, discrimination and human rights, and more. New research is critical for the design and evaluation of these initiatives and for understanding their impacts on business, social, and environmental outcomes. We support collaborations among Harvard scholars and build partnerships between the group and a diverse set of companies, with headquarters and operations in many different countries. [**Learn more about STAR Lab >**](https://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/projects/star-lab) ### The Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies expand\_more The Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies is dedicated to increasing our knowledge of the culture, history, and institutions of the world's major regions and countries. To accomplish this goal, we sponsor the Academy Scholars Program, which identifies and supports outstanding scholars at the start of their academic careers whose work combines excellence in a social science discipline with a command of the language and knowledge or expertise of countries or regions outside of the United States or Canada. Their scholarship spans traditional disciplinary divisions and elucidates comparative, transnational, or domestic issues, past or present. Academy Scholars are appointed for a two-year, in-residence, postdoctoral fellowship. They are mentored by the Harvard Academy Senior Scholars, a cohort of faculty members who are committed to supporting the Academy Scholars as they work to achieve their potential. [**Learn more about The Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies >**](https://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/programs/academy) ### Weatherhead Scholars Program expand\_more The Weatherhead Scholars Program offers visiting faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and experienced practitioners the opportunity to spend up to one year at Harvard conducting comparative international research. During their time in residence, affiliates participate in the weekly Scholars’ seminar and contribute to the Center’s many intellectual activities. They may also audit courses and engage with the undergraduate and graduate student communities. [**Learn more about the Weatherhead Scholars Program >**](https://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/programs/scholars) --- See also:- [ Projects ](/content-types/projects) - [ Current Projects ](/content-types/current-projects)