aes26 International Evaluation Conference: Full Schedule

This is the draft aes26 program, subject to change. To register for workshops and the conference, go to: https://www.aes26.aes.asn.au/

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11:30am ACST

What! No survey? Introducing the Collective Noticing Method (CNM)

Wednesday September 16, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST

Waterfront 2

Author: Jess Dart, Clear Horizon
This paper introduces the Collective Noticing Method (CNM) and explores its relevance for measurement, evaluation and learning (MEL). Developed by the author, CNM offers evaluators and changemakers a collaborative way to notice, learn from, and respond to subtle and emerging changes. It is a rigorous yet flexible method with a strong focus on learning and collective sensemaking, well suited to the “messy middle” of systems change and place-based work. It also has potential for community and grassroots work, program portfolios, and research impact tracking.

Collective noticing as a practice has a long history, evident in approaches such as Outcome Harvesting, Most Significant Change (MSC), citizen science, ripple effect monitoring, and context monitoring. More recently, this practice has been enabled and accelerated by emerging digital platforms and AI. Building on these foundations, CNM intentionally harnesses the eyes and ears of those implementing and experiencing an initiative to bring shared attention to what is changing.CNM is inherently participatory, inviting many people to observe, document, and interpret change collectively. It values lived experience as a central source of insight, embraces uncertainty, and supports adaptive action grounded in what is actually emerging. As a decolonising and grounded approach to MEL, CNM shares power by broadening who defines what matters and what counts as evidence. It centres learning-oriented measurement and collective sensemaking, bringing forward subtle signals, relational shifts, and everyday insights that conventional approaches often overlook.

CMN involves impact logging and tracking against agreed ways of working and learnings, whereas Outcome Harvesting focuses on outcomes and tends to be done as a one-off study. It differs from MSC in that CNM uses shorter, multi-perspective logs across diverse categories and evidence types.This session introduces CNM and invites participants to critically explore its benefits, limitations, and the contexts in which it is most—and least—useful.

Speakers

Jess Dart

CEO, Clear Horizon

Dr Jess Dart is the founder and Chief Evaluator of Clear Horizon, an Australian-based specialist evaluation company. Having received the 2018 Outstanding Contribution to Evaluation Award from the Australian Evaluation Society (AES), Jess is a recognised leader with over 25 years of... Read More →

Wednesday September 16, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST
Waterfront 2 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Traditional and new ways

Format Long paper
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Community and social services, Not for profit Philanthropy, Environment and climate change, International development
ID 251

2:30pm ACST

Epistemic Justice: victim survivors of child sexual abuse as co-evaluators

Wednesday September 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:30pm ACST

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Authors: Nic Vogelpoel (Day Four Projects), Malika Reese (Lived Experience Advisor), Sandra Collins (Lived Experience Advisor)
What happens when evaluation is not just informed by lived experience, but led by it?

This presentation offers a rare, practice-based account of a lived experience-led evaluation undertaken with the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse, where victim survivors worked as co-evaluators across all stages of the process. Established to centre victim survivors in awareness-raising, help-seeking, advocacy and best-practice responses, the Centre provided a powerful context to rethink how evaluation knowledge is produced, and by whom.

The session argues that lived experience-led evaluation is not an ethical “add-on”, but a fundamental shift in values, power and epistemology. Drawing on the evaluation findings, presenters will explore three core propositions.

First, nothing about us without us: moving from evaluation on people to evaluation led by people with lived experience reshapes evaluation questions, evidence, outcomes and definitions of rigour. Second, epistemic justice: lived experience leadership challenges entrenched assumptions about who gets to ask questions, whose knowledge counts, and how institutions respond to new forms of evidence. Third, beyond advice to synthesis: lived experience cannot simply “advise” evaluation, it must be integrated as a distinct way of knowing that transforms the whole evaluation.

Co-presented by lived experience evaluators and Day Four Projects evaluators, the session will combine reflective storytelling, concrete practice examples and facilitated dialogue. Participants will be invited to critically examine their own evaluative assumptions, engage in small-group reflection, and explore practical strategies for making space for multiple knowledge systems while maintaining evaluative integrity and meeting institutional requirements.This session will be particularly valuable for evaluators, commissioners, researchers and practitioners seeking more just, credible and impactful approaches to lived-experience evaluation in complex and sensitive contexts.

Speakers

Nic Vogelpoel

Director, Day Four Projects

We specialise in the theory and practice of good collaboration. We have a particular interest in learning and evaluation for partnerships, platforms and collaborative initiatives. We work with international and domestic partners from multilateral organisations, governments, NGOs... Read More →

Malika Reese

Lived Experience Advisor

Angela Obradovic

Wednesday September 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:30pm ACST
Waterfront 1 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Boundaries and bridges

Format Long paper
Audience Level Advanced, Intermediate
Industry Not for profit Philanthropy, Health and disability, Community and social services, Public administration and safety, Education and training
ID 45

4:30pm ACST

Evaluating projects using social capital framework in refugee communities in Australia

Wednesday September 16, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm ACST

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Authors: Ali Rasoli (STARTTS), Samantha Cherian (STARTTS)
Community development programs in refugee settlement contexts are often evaluated using frameworks designed for clinical or mainstream service environments. These approaches can struggle to capture the trauma-related, relational, collective and culturally embedded forms of change that occur in refugee communities.

In response to this gap, the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS), together with more than 130 refugee community leaders, has co-designed a Social Capital Evaluation Framework for community development programs working with refugee and migrant communities in Australia. The framework adapts established social capital theory to the realities of settlement work, enabling evaluation of changes in bonding, bridging and linking social capital, while also introducing the concept of social capital enablers.

This presentation introduces the STARTTS Social Capital Framework and demonstrates how it functions as a culturally responsive and trauma-informed evaluation approach for refugee community development initiatives. Drawing on multiple program evaluations conducted across New South Wales, the session will show how the framework captures outcomes often overlooked by conventional evaluation models, including strengthened community networks, emerging leadership, increased access to institutions, and collective wellbeing.

The presentation will outline the conceptual foundations of the framework, describe the evaluation tools and indicators developed by STARTTS, and present practical examples from community programs. Participants will be invited to reflect on how social capital concepts can be applied within their own evaluation contexts through guided discussion during the session.

The session will offer practical insights for evaluators and practitioners working in settlement and community development contexts, demonstrating how social capital can be operationalised as both a conceptual framework and a practical evaluation tool for evaluating refugee community programs.

Speakers

Ali Rasoli

Team Leader - Community Development Evaluation, STARTTS

Samantha Cherian

Community Development Evaluation Officer, STARTTS

Wednesday September 16, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm ACST
Waterfront 1 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Traditional and new ways

Format Long paper
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Not for profit Philanthropy, Community and social services
ID 101

aes26 International Evaluation Conference

11:30am ACST

Jess Dart

2:30pm ACST

Nic Vogelpoel

Malika Reese

Angela Obradovic

4:30pm ACST

Ali Rasoli

Samantha Cherian

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