Fernanda Soares

Dr. Fernanda Soares is a researcher, evaluator and technical advisor in the education and youth sectors with over 12 years of experiences working in low-resource, crisis, and conflict settings. Fernanda has been the Principal Investigator (PI) on studies of teacher in-service and pre-service professional development, teacher wellbeing, student learning and youth development. Fernanda has also led the design and validation of the Well-being Holistic Assessment for Teachers (WHAT) tool. Through her research and evaluation work, she has employed a variety of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches to conduct formative studies, impact assessments, implementation science research and development of measurement tools.

Prior to joining GC-DWC, Fernanda worked for different non-profit and international organizations, including Family Health International 360, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of American States. In her previous roles, she has supported global teams in the development of evaluation designs and research plans, designing appropriate measures and surveys, conducting formative qualitative research, and translating research findings for different audiences.

Fernanda holds a PhD in Public Policy Analysis from Maastricht University and a Master’s in International Development from American University with a concentration in program evaluation. She has been the recipient of the Ward Cates Emerging Scientific Leader Award. She is a Brazilian native fluent in both Portuguese and Spanish.