Zid Mancenido

I’m a teacher, researcher, and system leader who develops and scales significant and complex initiatives that have tangible impacts on education policy and practice.

Most recently, I was head of research and evaluation for the Australian Education Research Organisation. As part of the senior executive team, I set up and scaled up Australia's national agency dedicated to getting more evidence used in education policy and practice. I also led teams of researchers and expert teachers to generate high-quality evidence, make high-quality evidence accessible, and enhance the use of evidence in Australian education. We produced thousands of freely available reports, resources, and instructional materials to help educators, teachers and leaders improve learning outcomes across early childhood education and schools.

Currently, I am a part-time Lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). During AY'25-'26, I am part of the teaching team for Evidence, one of HGSE's Foundations courses. Previously, I've taught courses in general pedagogy and teacher policy.

I consult for a range of organisations and sit on expert advisory board committees. For example, I've conducted a strategic review of a top-tier university's initial teacher education offerings; I'm an expert advisor on the OECD's Evidence Web for Education project and AITSL's School Leadership and Teaching Expert Committee; and I've been a subject matter expert for the World Bank's work on teacher education. 

I also run online workshops that help researchers and policymakers develop capabilities for effective Research-Policy-Practice Partnerships.

My personal research focuses on issues related to teacher supply and teacher education. I am particularly interested in problems of research design, measurement, and evaluation.

I began my career as a high school social sciences teacher in Canberra, Australia. I hold a Ph.B. (Honours) degree from the Australian National University; an MTeach (Secondary) from the University of Melbourne; and an Ed.M. (Education Policy and Management) and Ph.D. (Education Policy and Programme Evaluation) from HGSE.