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/

9:00am ACST

Opening plenary: Welcome to Country followed by Robyn Ober "Being comfortable with discomfort"

Wednesday September 16, 2026 9:00am - 10:30am ACST

Hall 2

Welcome to Country
Opening address: President, Australian Evaluation Society

Being comfortable with discomfort
Robyn Ober, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Lead Researcher and Educator

This keynote challenges evaluators and commissioners to get comfortable with discomfort, and to rethink what ethical, rigorous evaluation looks like when it happens on Country.

Responding to the aes26 theme Making Space, Valuing Place, Dr Robyn Ober draws on three decades of practice in Aboriginal communities to show how traditional knowledge systems and contemporary evaluation can work together.

Through vivid stories from remote and very remote contexts, the talk brings to life the tensions at the heart of evaluation practice: timelines versus relationships, control versus trust, and methodological neatness versus lived reality. At the centre is the Community Researcher Approach, where local people are co-researchers who shape the questions in collaboration with evaluators, lead conversations in language, and make meaning on their own terms.

The talk argues that ethics and integrity are enacted in how we show up, who holds authority, and whether participants’ voices are recognised, respected and valued so they feel safe to share their own truths. Integrity is also enacted when Aboriginal people can see that the purpose of evaluation is for the benefit of Aboriginal people. You’ll leave with practical ways to commission and conduct evaluation on Country to strengthen voice, evidence quality and impact.

Speakers

Robyn Ober

Lead Researcher and Educator, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education

Robyn is a Mamu/Djirribal woman from Far North Queensland. She is a Lead Researcher and educator at Batchelor Institute and has extensive experience in the Northern Territory that spans three decades. She is well renowned for her expertise of both-ways pedagogy, working to combine... Read More →

Wednesday September 16, 2026 9:00am - 10:30am ACST
Hall 2

Plenary

Format Keynote address
Audience Level Advanced, Foundational, Intermediate

1:30pm ACST

Plenary: Lígia Teixeira "From evidence to impact: reclaiming evaluation as a means to an end"

Wednesday September 16, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm ACST

Hall 2

From evidence to impact: reclaiming evaluation as a means to an end
Lígia Teixeira, Founder and Chief Executive of the Centre for Homelessness Impact

Evaluation has never been more sophisticated, yet many challenges it seeks to address remain stubbornly persistent. Across sectors, we generate high-quality evidence, but too often struggle to translate it into meaningful, sustained impact. The risk is not just a lack of rigour, but a loss of connection to purpose: the way evaluation is used within systems can allow it to become an end in itself, rather than a means to improve lives.This keynote argues for renewed focus on evaluation as a discipline of impact. Drawing on international efforts to tackle homelessness, it explores how outcomes are shaped not by individual interventions alone, but by the systems in which they operate. Without a systems lens, even strong and diverse forms of evidence – quantitative, qualitative and lived - can lead to fragmented action, missing the broader dynamics that ultimately determine success.

The keynote reflects on how evaluation can better connect global insight with local context, enabling faster learning while respecting place-based realities. It also argues that effective systems prevent harm before it occurs, rather than responding once it is entrenched.

This is a call to re-centre evaluation on its core purpose: not just to understand the world, but to change it.

Speakers

Lígia Teixeira

Founder and Chief Executive, Centre for Homelessness Impact

Dr Lígia Teixeira is the Founder and Chief Executive of the Centre for Homelessness Impact , part of the UK Government’s What Works Network. She works with governments and cities to rethink how homelessness is understood and addressed – using data, evidence, and experimentation... Read More →

Wednesday September 16, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm ACST
Hall 2

Plenary

Format Keynote address
Audience Level Advanced, Foundational, Intermediate

9:00am ACST

Plenary: Bagele Chilisa "Making Space, Valuing Place: The 21st Century Evaluation Paradigms Challenge"

Thursday September 17, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am ACST

Hall 2

Making Space, Valuing Place: The 21st Century Evaluation Paradigms Challenge
Bagele Chilisa (Botswana), Professor of the Post Graduate Research and Evaluation Programme, University of Botswana

Evaluation systems are under pressure to deliver credible evidence that strengthens decisions, responds to place and context, and envisions the future. This talk invites us to improve policy effectiveness by bringing established Western evaluation approaches into dialogue with other knowledge systems, including place and space based paradigms of formerly colonised Peoples of the world. Paradigms help navigate dialogue on power distribution and how to amplify power for communities, address relationships and rights of Indigenous Peoples to their land and culture and navigate the complexity of context.

The People, Environment, Place, Space, and Time (PEPST) framework, derived from an Indigenous Science paradigm, is presented as a practical tool to enrich evaluation design and use. PEPST challenges decision makers to contextualise evaluation and check whether commissioning, governance, timelines, and success metrics narrow what counts as evidence. PEPST strengthens policy intelligence by centring Indigenous authority, while acknowledging institutional requirements.

This talk explores what changes when PEPST informs how evaluations are commissioned, governed, and used across development programs. It shows how the PEPST framework might connect traditional and new ways of evaluation, strengthen ethics and integrity in evidence making, and build durable bridges between Indigenous knowledge systems and multiple accountability requirements in evaluations.

Speakers

Bagele Chilisa

Professor of the Post Graduate Research and Evaluation Programme, University of Botswana

Bagele [Med, MA EdD (Research Design, Measurement, Statistics and Evaluation)] is a globally recognised scholar and a leading African thought leader who has written extensively on decolonizing research and evaluation methodologies. She currently drives the thinking on a Fifth research... Read More →

Thursday September 17, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am ACST
Hall 2

Plenary

Format Keynote address
Audience Level Advanced, Foundational, Intermediate

9:00am ACST

Plenary: Selwyn Button "Insight that Delivers: How Good Evaluation Shapes Better Policy and Practice", handover to aes27

Friday September 18, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am ACST

Hall 2

Insight that Delivers: How Good Evaluation Shapes Better Policy and Practice
Selwyn Button, Commissioner, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Stream, Australian Productivity Commission

Good evaluation does more than measure outcomes or meet accountability requirements — it helps shape better public policy and improve practice across government and community sectors. In a context of increasing complexity, constrained resources, and rising expectations, evaluation provides critical evidence to inform decision-making, strengthen services, and improve outcomes for communities.This keynote explores how evaluation can move beyond compliance to become a practical tool for learning, adaptation, and system improvement. Drawing on examples of formal and informal evaluation processes from the Productivity Commission, community-controlled health organisations, government departments and consulting experiences, the session will examine how evaluation helps organisations understand what works, for whom, and under what conditions.The keynote will also reflect on the realities faced by public servants and community organisations, including balancing evidence with operational pressures, engaging stakeholders meaningfully, and translating findings into action. Effective evaluation strengthens accountability, informs investment decisions, and supports more responsive, equitable, and impactful services.

Followed by: handover to the aes27 International Evaluation Conference, Brisbane, Australia

Speakers

Selwyn Button

Commissioner, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Stream, Australian Productivity Commission

Selwyn Button was appointed for a 5-year term as a full time Commissioner in June 2024. Selwyn is Gungarri man from Southwest Queensland and an experienced leader of health, education and governance organisations across the public, private, not-for-profit and community-controlled... Read More →

Friday September 18, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am ACST
Hall 2

Plenary

Format Keynote address
Audience Level Advanced, Foundational, Intermediate

2:30pm ACST

Closing plenary: Emily Gates "When “What’s Right” is Contested: Ethical Reflexivity in Systemic Change"

Friday September 18, 2026 2:30pm - 3:30pm ACST

Hall 2

When “What’s Right” is Contested: Ethical Reflexivity in Systemic Change
Emily Gates, Associate Professor of Evaluation, Boston College

Ethics in evaluation is often treated as a matter of personal values, organisational commitments, or compliance with professional guidelines. But in systemic change, ethics becomes an ongoing, relational practice that asks us to hold space for hard questions and disagreement about “what’s right.”

In this session, we’ll make space for diverse perspectives and value the contexts and communities in which evaluation happens. We’ll practice ethical reflexivity together using photos, comics, and other visual moments from real evaluation work to explore:

How our roles change when we evaluate systems instead of programs, and how we decide what responsible involvement looks like.
How we navigate values, perspectives, and power, while avoiding the reproduction of unjust dynamics.
How to assess “success” when outcomes are emergent, contributions are multi directional, and interpretations differ.

At its heart, this session sharpens the questions we ask of ourselves and each other, strengthening the ethical reflexivity needed to act with integrity when “what’s right” is genuinely contested.

Followed by conference close

Speakers

Emily Gates

Associate Professor of Evaluation, Boston College

Emily Gates is a tenured associate professor at Boston College whose research explores how evaluation can support meaningful, values-driven change in complex systems. Her work bridges theory and practice, spanning more than 30 publications and two coauthored books: Evaluative Inquiry... Read More →

Friday September 18, 2026 2:30pm - 3:30pm ACST
Hall 2

Plenary

Format Keynote address
Audience Level Advanced, Foundational, Intermediate

aes26 International Evaluation Conference

9:00am ACST

Robyn Ober

1:30pm ACST

Lígia Teixeira

9:00am ACST

Bagele Chilisa

9:00am ACST

Selwyn Button

2:30pm ACST

Emily Gates

Get help with the event