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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10:30am ACST

How to evaluate a company

Friday September 18, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am ACST

Waterfront 2

Author: Gerard Atkinson, Iris Ethics
Evaluation is typically applied to discrete policies and programs, yet organisations themselves require systematic assessment of whether they achieve their goals and align with their values. This presentation examines how evaluation practice can be adapted to assess an entire company, drawing on a case study from Iris Ethics where we designed and implemented an integrated company-level evaluation plan.

The objective is to demonstrate how evaluative thinking can bridge the fragmented approaches currently dominating corporate contexts. Here strategy evaluation focuses on financial/operational objectives, ESG operates as carved-out compliance, and program evaluation remains siloed. This matters because organisations exist within interconnected systems: programs, profitability, and stakeholder value cannot genuinely be disentangled, yet corporate evaluation practice rarely addresses them holistically.

The presentation makes three core arguments. First, whole-of-company evaluation requires integrated thinking across traditionally separate domains: financial performance, operational delivery, social impact, and stakeholder value, grounded in evaluation's systematic logic whilst incorporating corporate strategy, ESG frameworks, market research methodologies, and economic value-for-investment thinking. Second, evaluability must be embedded from the start: mission and vision statements developed with explicit monitoring and evaluation capability, avoiding vague aspirations that cannot be assessed. Third, evaluation must be integrated into operational platforms rather than existing as separate reporting exercises, making assessment continuous rather than episodic.

The presentation follows a case study structure using a start-up example: establishing why whole-of-company evaluation matters, presenting the step-by-step framework (including whole-of-company logic models), demonstrating how evaluation integrates with strategy, governance, financial management, and competitive positioning, and identifying transferable lessons. Building on methodologies developed for NFP and government sectors but adapted to incorporate profitability and commercial risk, it demonstrates evaluation's applicability beyond traditional boundaries.

It will comprise a structured Q&A and discussion on barriers to integrated company evaluation, and invites participants to identify how the profession can engage with this frontier of practice.

Speakers

Gerard Atkinson

Managing Director, Iris Ethics

Gerard Atkinson is Managing Director and founder of Iris Ethics, Australia's first on-demand Human Research Ethics Committee serving the social research, market research, and evaluation sectors. He started his international career in market research and evaluation in 2001, learning... Read More →

Friday September 18, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am ACST
Waterfront 2 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Boundaries and bridges

Format Short paper
Audience Level Intermediate, Advanced
Industry Public administration and safety, Community and social services, Economic development tourism and infrastructure
ID 24

10:30am ACST

Who defines a ‘professional’ evaluator? Roots and routes across government reform and the evaluation field

Friday September 18, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am ACST

Hall 2

Authors: Ruth Nicholls, Treasury. Eleanor Williams, ACE, Tony Kiessler, Australian Indigenous Psychology, Liz Wren, Kowa, Jade Maloney, ARTD, Nigel McPaul, Dementia Org
In an era of public sector reform, the evaluation profession is being reshaped from multiple directions. In Australia, this is occurring through two intersecting pathways: the Australian Public Service (APS) Evaluation Profession, established as part of broader APS Reform; and the ongoing question of professionalisation within the Australian Evaluation Society (AES) and the evaluation field more broadly. This panel explores how these two “routes” to professionalism interact, reinforce and sometimes challenge one another. The discussion asks how evaluation can remain grounded in its core professional principles of rigour, ethics, cultural responsiveness and learning; while adapting to new institutional expectations, roles and accountabilities.

Using the APS Evaluation Profession Strategy as a starting point, panellists will reflect on how professionalism is being articulated, operationalised and experienced within government. They will consider what it means to professionalise evaluation inside a public service context shaped by reform agendas, capability frameworks and system stewardship.

At the same time, the panel will widen the lens to examine how professionalism has traditionally been understood within the AES: through standards, competencies, peer accountability and professional identity. We will explore what this means for First Nations Evaluators.

Rather than assuming these perspectives naturally align, the panel will surface key tensions and questions. Who defines what “good” or “professional” evaluation looks like? How do institutional reform agendas interact with professional norms developed within the evaluation community? What happens when professional judgement, independence or methodological standards are tested by political urgency, contested evidence or strong beliefs? And how do unconscious biases and assumptions shape whose knowledge is valued and whose evidence is trusted? What might be lost with professionalisation - in particular diversification of evaluators and building evaluative thinking into all types of roles - and how we might avoid this.

Speakers

Jade Maloney

CEO, ARTD

I work with government agencies, not-for-profits and citizens to co-design, refine, communicate and evaluate social policies, regulatory systems and programs. I am passionate about ensuring citizens have a voice in shaping the policies that affect their lives, translating research... Read More →

Eleanor Williams

Managing Director, ACE

Eleanor Williams is the Managing Director of the Australian Centre for Evaluation and established the Australian Public Sector Evaluation Network in 2019. She is a former AES Board member and chairs the OECD's Public Policy Evaluation Experts group.

Eleanor is currently undertaking PhD research on evidence use in fast-paced policy contexts with supervisors at the University of Queensland and University College London and has a particular interest in rapid evaluation methods... Read More →

Liz Wren

Ruth Nicholls

Director, Treasury

Tony Kiessler

CEO, Australian Indigenous Psychology

Nigel McPaul

Dementia

Friday September 18, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am ACST
Hall 2

Roots and routes

Format Big room
Audience Level Intermediate
Industry Economic development tourism and infrastructure, Public administration and safety
ID 219

11:30am ACST

What’s your problem? Navigating the impact of problematisation on evaluation

Friday September 18, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST

Rooms 3+4

Author: Liesl Harrold, Australian Taxation Office
Problematisation is a deliberate process of dismantling a problem to understand the different ways of thinking that lead to the classification of phenomena as a problem. It goes beyond the construction of problem statements to focus on the effort required to understand historical and theoretical assumptions underpinning its framing. Problematisation is a way to test assumptions, generate new ideas, and make new connections to theoretical understandings. In evaluation, it has the potential to provide rigour to practices associated with judging through structuring evaluative thinking.

Using a skill building format, this paper will help participants understand the role of problems in evaluation. The format will follow an explain-model-apply in a group teaching format including practical application of selected trans-disciplinary theories and approaches. It will include a brief overview of:

•Problem logics and how they can be constructed
•Problem representation and the genealogy of problems
•Key theories that can support evaluators to think differently e.g. social identity and psychological safety theoretical frameworks.

Problematisation provides a systematic approach that offers evaluators support to think differently, rather than using existing knowledge to validate existing thoughts. Evaluators’ worldviews and skills influence their competence which may manifest in generalisations of the problem.

Problem-solving is a role in evaluation, as it supports the purpose of interventions in directing social change. They are primarily considered in the needs analysis phase of an evaluation to anchor program logics. However, this foundation has implications for intervention design, defining outcomes and establishing criteria of merit. Monitoring frameworks, particularly when using sentinel indicators, are also influenced by problem framing and assumptions.
Indigenous and transformative approaches, where the rectification of historical power imbalances is essential, would find this particularly relevant. Problematisation can prepare participants for truth-telling, a step in reconciling intergenerational trauma and stopping systemic violence (Payne & Norman, 2025).

Speakers

Liesl Harrold

Assistant Director, Small Business Evaluation Hub, Australian Taxation Office

Liesl works in the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), helping business areas deliver quality evaluations and to build their evaluation culture, capacity and practice. With over 25 years of evaluation experience, Liesl has also worked for Queensland Treasury and Trade where she assisted... Read More →

Friday September 18, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST
Rooms 3+4 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Boundaries and bridges

Format Skill building
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Economic development tourism and infrastructure, Education and training, Public administration and safety, Community and social services, Not for profit Philanthropy
ID 128

11:30am ACST

Across the aisle: building practical skills for navigating ethical pressures in evaluation commissioning

Friday September 18, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST

Rooms 1+2

Authors: Su-Ann Drew, Grosvenor, Jo van Twest Farmer, Rooftop Social, Eleanor Williams, ACE, Emma Williams, Martina Donkers
Ethical pressures arise due to a range of conflicting incentives that for those who commission and deliver evaluations. Evaluators may try to maintain methodological rigour while meeting tight timeframes or limited budgets. Commissioners may need defensible evidence while navigating organisational expectations, political sensitivities or shifting priorities. These pressures are real and often lead to ethical tensions for all involved, without an agreed or shared language for discussion. This session creates space for attendees to discuss challenges openly, safely and constructively, helps participants recognise and make sense of pressures shaping commissioning decisions, and builds participants’ confidence in responding in ways that support both quality and working relationships.

Building on previous AES presentations on 'everyday ethics', we give participants tools to apply in real-world commissioning contexts by introducing a simple organising framework, the Evaluation Pressure System, which helps participants identify the mix of pressures influencing a situation and why tensions arise. The framework is a guide to support reflection and conversation rather than a technical model.

Using the framework, we will explore fictional but realistic scenarios that illustrate common pressure points in commissioning and evaluation delivery. Participants will be invited, through anonymous polling, to indicate the extent to which each scenario reflects situations they have encountered. Through in-room conversations, attendees will use the framework to examine what helps maintain integrity and constructive working relationships when pressures collide. The intention is not to analyse cases in depth, but to build a clearer shared understanding of tensions that arise and how they can be handled well.

To support ongoing application, attendees will receive a Trade‑off Log to clarify constraints and integrity risks, and practical communication strategies for raising concerns early and negotiating expectations. These will help participants recognise tensions earlier, discuss them more openly and navigate them in ways that support quality and collaboration.

Speakers

Su-Ann Drew

Senior Manager, Grosvenor

Su-Ann is a Manager specialising in program evaluation within Grosvenor’s public sector advisory practice. Su-Ann has more than a decade of rich and diverse professional experience, which enables her to offer a unique perspective and critical lens to solving complex problems for... Read More →

Emma Williams

Jo van Twest Farmer

Rooftop Social

Martina Donkers

Friday September 18, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST
Rooms 1+2 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Ethics and integrity

Format Skill building
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Community and social services, Public administration and safety, Not for profit Philanthropy
ID 179

11:30am ACST

Evaluation professionalisation: where to from here?

Friday September 18, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST

Hall 2

Authors: Eleanor Williams, ACE, Jade Maloney, ARTD, Jess Buchwald
Did you grow up wanting to be an evaluator? For most of us the answer is no, and there is value in the way we have all fallen into evaluation profession from diverse backgrounds.

But what does this mean for our career pathways and the way others think of evaluation and evaluators? What does it mean for evaluation as a profession?

As the leading voice for evaluation in Australian, the Australian Evaluation Society has long considered options for and pathways to professionalisation that strengthen our roots as a society, and develop the routes to a future in which evaluation profession is increasingly recognised and valued.

The 2024-2028 AES Strategic Plan firmly put considering pathways to professionalisation back on the agenda. A working group has since been exploring options for professionalisation, drawing on learnings from the review undertaking by Peersman and Rogers in 2017, consistent with the AES values, and informed by the experiences of other evaluation associations and other professionalisation associations in Australia.
Now it’s time to seek your views because professionalisation is for you, the Australian evaluation community.

Harnessing the success of the fishbowl approach to exploring quality evaluation that makes a difference at the 2025 conference, we are inviting everyone to jump in and share their thoughts about the value professionalisation would provide, and the risks to be managed to ensure the pathway are accessible, inclusive and respectful of diverse ways of knowing. The working group understands there are diverse views on professionalisation and invites these to be surfaced in this conversation.

The session will be facilitated by professionalisation working group co-chairs Eleanor Williams, Jade Maloney and Jess Buchwald with opportunities to contribute live or through written formats. The working group will use what you share in shaping the route forward.

And yes, there will again be chocolate fish rewards for contributors.

Just think: What would it look like if the next generation could grow up wanting to be an evaluator? What if when you became an evaluator you could see a clear pathway forward?

Speakers

Jade Maloney

CEO, ARTD

Eleanor Williams

Managing Director, ACE

Friday September 18, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST
Hall 2

Roots and routes

Format Round table
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Not for profit Philanthropy, Public administration and safety, International development
ID 243

11:30am ACST

Staying Grounded in Complexity: Designing an M&E System for Counter-Trafficking in Persons

Friday September 18, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST

Waterfront 1

Authors: Anne Stephens, Ethos of Engagement, Jill Thomas
This presentation explores the design of a systemic Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system for counter-trafficking in persons (CTIP) in the ASEAN region. Developed in 2023, the system supports the adoption and implementation of three victim-centred and gender-sensitive guides for counter trafficking in persons, in use across ASEAN member states. The presentation focuses on how systemic, participatory approaches to evaluation design can enhance uptake of evaluation and the role of a well-designed framework to support the capacity of individuals to monitor and evaluate their work.

The objective of this presentation is to present the process used to develop a simple to use M&E system within a complex setting; show the public facing guidance documents and tools used to support novice and highly skilled evaluators to use the system; and describe our challenges and learnings.

This presentation offers a timely and practice-grounded contribution to the evaluation field by demonstrating how evaluators can design for relevance, capacity development and impact in complex, real-world settings. It provides actionable insights for practitioners seeking to strengthen the value and use of evaluation in increasingly uncertain and contested environments.

Speakers

Anne Stephens

Director, Ethos of Engagement

Anne is the Director and Co-Founder of Ethos of Engagement Consulting a global and women-led research and evaluation firm. We work in Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Central America, UK and USA. We use Inclusive Systemic Thinking to guide our methodology and approaches and diversity is... Read More →

Jill Thomas

Senior Consultant, J.A Thomas & Associates

Jill is an experienced evaluator and analyst, having worked in the health, higher education and finance sectors in major cities and far northern Queensland. Jill specialises in working with organisations to design and implement performance monitoring and evaluation frameworks, conduct... Read More →

Friday September 18, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm ACST
Waterfront 1 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Roots and routes

Format Long paper
Audience Level Intermediate, Advanced
Industry Education and training, Public administration and safety, Health and disability, International development, Community and social services
ID 180

10:30am ACST

10:30am ACST

11:30am ACST

11:30am ACST

11:30am ACST

11:30am ACST

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