# Research Groups The Weatherhead Center supports several categories of research groups including: programs, projects, and Weatherhead Research Clusters. These groups provide a framework for faculty, students, visiting scholars, and practitioners to collaborate and work together on focused research projects. ## 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. [### Canada Program ](/programs/canada)Program Presenting rich intellectual opportunities for Canadian studies at Harvard. ![Mural of a red deer.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/Cards-Homepage-Mural.jpg?itok=zLJtkVk_) [### Program on US-Japan Relations ](/programs/us_japan)Program Promoting social science research on Japan from comparative, global, and interdisciplinary perspectives. ![Bustling city streets at night.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/Event-Image-AP-SocialPolicy.jpg?h=832fd3e9&itok=P-A53RUf) [### SCANCOR at the Weatherhead Center ](/projects/scancor)Project Sustaining organizational scholarship across boundaries. ![SCANCOR affiliates stand side by side in an office lobby.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/scancor-group-2025.jpg?itok=iKYx4t3j) [### STAR Lab ](/projects/star-lab)Project Designing and testing new ways for businesses to create positive social impacts, benefit communities, and protect the environment. ![Rendering of office workers walking between tree-lined buildings. ](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/STARLAB-Hero2.jpg?itok=nUozbWFE) [### The Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies ](/programs/academy)Program Dedicated to promoting innovative social science hand-in-hand with deepening our shared knowledge of the experiences and practices of the world’s regions and countries. ![Outside of a building with trees and shrubs on a sunny day.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/1727Building-forweb.jpeg?h=d673997c&itok=tuylMvPn) [### Weatherhead Scholars Program ](/programs/scholars)Program Offering visiting faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and experienced practitioners the opportunity to spend up to one year at Harvard conducting research. ![Exterior of a brick building on a sunny day.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/61kirkland-2500px.jpg?itok=dauvPYRb) ### Student Programs Nurturing the research of graduate and undergraduate students is one of the Weatherhead Center’s highest priorities. Weatherhead helps students financially and intellectually by supporting their research and by encouraging and facilitating collaboration among students and other Center affiliates including faculty, fellows, and visiting scholars. [ Learn more about student opportunities arrow\_circle\_right ](/students) ![Three graduate students pose with Weatherhead director and staff.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-04/GSAs-Erez-Clare.jpg?itok=ZccuVyVb) ## Weatherhead Research Clusters Born out of a need to complement the Center’s traditional focus of supporting individual faculty and student research, our Weatherhead Research Clusters revolve around hefty questions for the social sciences and the world. These research clusters represent core faculty interests, and aim to make a significant contribution by pushing the frontier of knowledge in their respective fields. [Learn more about research clusters >](https://prod-wcfia.drupalsites.harvard.edu/weatherhead-clusters) [### Business and Government ](/weatherhead-clusters/22-business-and-government)Research Cluster **The Political Economy of Firms and States in a Changing World** By better understanding the political economy of business-government relations in the contemporary world, this cluster hopes to provide new insights into how business influence can be a positive force for democracy and development. ![Dozens of professionals wearing suits are seated around a table with microphones and name tags.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/IMF-Homepage-Hero.jpg?h=453ec2a8&itok=L5bhKXg0) [### Comparative Inequality and Inclusion ](/weatherhead-clusters/comparative-inequality-and-inclusion)Research Cluster This cluster draws on expertise from across disciplines to gain international and comparative perspectives on how to extend cultural membership within societies, better understand social and cultural processes behind recognition gaps, and determine ways to make societies more inclusive. ![Vista of a city with a mountain backdrop.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/inequality-header-2500px.jpg?itok=S4meNqsc) [### Global Climate Policy ](/weatherhead-clusters/25-global-climate-policy)Research Cluster **In collaboration with the Global Climate Policy Project at the Salata Institute and MIT** Addressing climate change requires global collective action, underpinned by international institutions, frameworks, and policies. This cluster aims to accelerate the pace and scale of climate action by identifying and developing new global policy initiatives that address the challenges at hand. ![Dozens of world flags flying in the breeze against a blue sky.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-07/cluster-climate-policy-adobe-stock16x9.jpg?itok=9LQUZcob) [### Global History ](/weatherhead_initiative/11_global_history)Research Cluster This cluster promotes global history as a critical humanistic enterprise in today’s world of coexisting and contending cultures through research, writing, teaching, and international exchange. By partnering with institutions around the world, we have created a new kind of network that embeds global history in global conversations. ![Black and white photo of people wearing white, leaning ladders up against trees.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/cluster-global-history-2500px.jpg?itok=EEPpUCL8) [### Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights ](/weatherhead-clusters/25-global-lgbtqi-human-rights)Research Cluster **In collaboration with the Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights** LGBTQI+ human rights have become a canary in the coal mine for broader authoritarian projects. This cluster examines the transnational networks and political strategies that weaponize LGBTQI+ people and their rights as a central tool in the global backlash against democracy and human rights. ![People gathered together, hanging on stoplights and sitting on amplifiers, waving pride flags with joy.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-07/cluster-lgbtqi-human-rights-unsplash.jpg?itok=l3t122Pu) [### Identity and Conflict ](/weatherhead-clusters/22-identity-politics)Research Cluster **Addressing Ethnic and Religious Conflict** Exploring ethnic, religious, and other forms of identity-based politics, as well as ways to improve intergroup relations in diverse settings, by bringing together a multigenerational cohort of Harvard and global scholars and practitioners network of scholars at all career stages from Harvard and other US- and globally based institutions who work on conflict, conflict resolution, and identity politics. ![Profile of a soldier wearing a blue helmet seen through a window.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-04/cluster-identity-politics-981px.jpg?itok=IXxH_hnQ)