‍Being comfortable with discomfort
Robyn Ober (Opening Keynote Speaker)
Wednesday 16 September, 9.00am – 10.30am | Hall 2, Plenary
Robyn will draw on three decades of practice in Aboriginal communities to challenge evaluators and commissioners to rethink what ethical, rigorous evaluation looks like on Country. Through the Community Researcher Approach, she will explore how centring local knowledge, relationships, authority and voice can strengthen the quality, integrity and impact of evaluation.
From evidence to impact: reclaiming evaluation as a means to an end
LĂgia Teixeira
Wednesday 16 September, 1.30pm – 2.30pm | Hall 2, Plenary
LĂgia will call for evaluation to reconnect with its core purpose: turning evidence into meaningful, sustained impact. Drawing on international efforts to tackle homelessness, she will explore how a systems lens can connect global insight with local context, accelerate learning and move evaluation beyond understanding the world to helping change it.
Putting Money Where the Evidence Is: a perspective from international development
Emmanuel Jimenez
Thursday 17 September, 9.00am – 10.00am | Hall 2, Plenary
Emmanuel will explore why credible evidence matters more than ever when resources are constrained and difficult funding decisions must be made. Drawing on his experience at the Asian Development Bank, he will examine how evaluation can balance accountability and learning, strengthen decision-making, and ensure evidence is not only generated but effectively communicated and used.
Insight that Delivers: How Good Evaluation Shapes Better Policy and Practice
Selwyn Button
Friday 18 September, 9.00am – 10.00am | Hall 2, Plenary
Selwyn will explore how evaluation can move beyond compliance to become a practical tool for better policy, stronger services and system improvement. Drawing on experience across government, community-controlled health and consulting, he will examine how evidence can be translated into action to support more responsive, equitable and impactful outcomes.
When “What’s Right” is Contested: Ethical Reflexivity in Systemic Change
Emily Gates (Closing Plenary)
Friday 18 September, 2.30pm – 3.30pm | Hall 2, Plenary
Emily will explore what it means to act ethically when values, perspectives and ideas of “what’s right” are genuinely contested. Through an interactive exploration of real evaluation work, she will invite us to examine power, responsibility and success in systemic change, strengthening the ethical reflexivity needed to act with integrity.
