CHICAGO, November 6, 2025 — NORC at the University of Chicago is pleased to announce the launch of the Center on Indo-Pacific Social & Economic Research. The Center will centralize NORC’s growing portfolio of research and technical assistance across South and Southeast Asia, Oceania, and the U.S. Pacific territories under unified leadership.

Experts under the Center continue NORC’s decades of work in the region and will serve increasing investments by the U.S. government, foundations, multilateral and bilateral organizations, as well as governments outside the United States. These investments are in Indo-Pacific development priorities including education, climate resilience, health systems, and governance.

“The Indo-Pacific is a critical priority for U.S. development partnerships, and this Center allows NORC to deliver the rigorous evaluation and technical assistance our partners need across the region,” said Varuni Dayaratna, senior vice president and head of the International Programs department at NORC. “Consolidating our expertise under one roof means we can better support evidence-based programming from South Asia to the Pacific.”

With permanent staff in Hawaii, Guam, and Palau and established partnerships throughout the region, the Center offers U.S. funders locally grounded implementation capacity and technical assistance combined with NORC’s rigorous evaluation.

 “Education systems across the Indo-Pacific face distinct challenges, from teacher shortages to chronic absenteeism,” said Jennifer Hamilton, senior vice president and head of the Education & Child Development department at NORC. “This Center lets us bring NORC’s education research expertise to support better learning outcomes throughout the region.”