With current Executive Director Professor Daniel Rubenson at the helm, the Department of Political Science now houses Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP)—a global research, evaluation, and learning network, bringing together scholars and policy practitioners dedicated to generating rigorous, experimental evidence on governance, politics, and institutions, advancing methodological innovation and research transparency, and strengthening the link between research and policy and practice.
Established in 2008 after the Hewlett Foundation awarded Stanford University a grant to establish a research network focused on experimental research in governance and politics, the network was ultimately launched with 28 members at a 2009 meeting hosted by Yale University’s Institute for Social and Policy Studies.
The network has since grown to over 300 researchers and practitioners across more than 40 countries. Governance is overseen by an elected Board and the Executive Director, Professor Rubenson, an original EGAP member who brought the organization to the department of political science when he joined the University of Toronto in 2025. The team also includes Program Manager Erika Ellis Buchanan and Program Coordinator Clara Bradley.
The network’s work centers on evidence-based policymaking, academic-practitioner collaboration, and methodological rigor, with a strong focus on researchers in the Global South. Their activities include biannual member meetings, intensive Learning Days workshops, and collaborative research through the Metaketa Initiative, which coordinates multi-country field experiments on shared governance themes. EGAP also provides research grants, funding innovative projects that strengthen research quality and integrity and operates regional hubs in Latin America (Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá) and West Africa (CERAP, Abidjan), which enhance regional research exchange and collaboration.
EGAP is currently funded by Arnold Ventures and anonymous donors. Past support has included the Hewlett Foundation, UK DfID, SSRC, the Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Rockefeller Foundation. In 2026, activities include major member meetings in the U.S. and Portugal, regional Learning Days in Côte d’Ivoire and Chile, ongoing feedback sessions to improve research designs across the network and new initiatives to synthesize accumulated knowledge and map emerging research frontiers.