Last chance to register for upcoming seminars

 

Date and time: Monday 24 August, 12.00pm - 1.00pm AEST
Topic: A discussion on the current downturn in evaluation consulting
Location: online, via Zoom. Details will be emailed to registrants just prior to the start time
Presenters: Judy Gold, Emma Thomas, Kristy Hornby, Lauren Siegmann and Shani Rajenda
Register online by: 23 August 2026

Event description:

An informal lunchtime seminar for evaluation consultants to share their experiences in the current consulting climate. The session will focus on understanding changes in the evaluation context, considerations for evaluation commissioners, sharing business development strategies and wellbeing tips for getting through lean times.

This seminar will not be recorded.

Presenter details:

Emma Thomas and Judy Gold are the co-founders and co-directors of Cultivating Change, a MEL consultancy working across a range of health and social topics in Australia and internationally. While they primarily lead their own projects, they also subcontract to larger organisations and work in partnership with other consultants.
Kristy Hornby is a seasoned evaluator with experience across state and Commonwealth government contexts. She brings supplier and adviser perspectives on effective commissioning, with a practical focus on improving market capability, evaluation quality and governance.
Shani Rajendra is a Lead Principal Consultant and Business Group Leader of Clear Horizon’s Social Impact team. She has extensive experience in community-led initiatives, organisational strategy and social enterprise, and specialises in applying design thinking to evaluation. Shani is committed to collaborative, community-led change and supporting people to shift the systems they work within.
Lauren Siegmann is a monitoring and evaluation consultant at String Theory, based in Melbourne. Over the past 20 years, she has delivered over 80 monitoring and evaluation projects across more than 10 countries. Her interest is in participatory and collaborative practices that connect and unite diverse voices and creative methods that bring meaning and joy into the experience. Her business partner is a dog named George.
Jill Thomas is Director of Jill Thomas Evaluation, a collaborative consultancy supporting social good through effective evaluation systems, projects and products. She has extensive experience across international development, health care, community and higher education, specialising in monitoring and evaluation frameworks, projects and organisational systems that support credible decision-making, governance and capacity building. Jill is an AES Board member, chair of the Pathways Committee and based in eastern Victoria.

This event is organised & hosted by AES members. Our seminar series provides an opportunity for you to meet with AES members and others in the evaluation community and to share and learn from the experiences of fellow evaluators.

Seminar start times:

VIC, ACT, NSW, TAS, QLD: 12.00pm

SA, NT: 11.30am

WA: 10.00am

New Zealand: 2.00pm

For other time zones please go to https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Please ensure you have access to your email address just prior to the start time to access Zoom details. Please also check your email address is correct on your registration form before submitting. Thanks.

 

 

Date and time: Tuesday 25 August 12.00pm -1.00pm ACST
Topic: Evaluation: strengthening the ability to respond to family violence across the NT
Location: online via zoom, details will be shared just prior to the event
Presenter: Meg Wright | Northern Territory Council of Social Services (NTCOSS)
Register online by: 24 August 2026

Event description: 

This presentation will cover the findings, key learnings and practice case studies from the process evaluation of the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence (DFSV) Risk Assessment and Management Framework (RAMF) Champions Implementation project. The presentation will look at what worked to strengthen responses to family violence across the Northern Territory, the barriers and key learnings for future implementation projects. This will be a 30-minute presentation on the findings from the evaluation with time for questions at the end.

Presenter details:

Meg Wright is the DFSV RAMF Champion Coordinator at NTCOSS.

This seminar will be recorded and available on the member portal for AES members only.

This free event has been organised by the NT Regional Network of the AES. Our seminar series provides an opportunity for you to meet with AES members and others in the evaluation community and to share and learn from the experiences of fellow evaluators. 

Session start times:

NT, SA: 12.00pm

VIC, NSW, ACT, QLD, TAS: 12.30pm

WA: 10.30am

NZ: 2.30pm

For other time zones please go to https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Please ensure you have access to your email address to receive the zoom details. Please also check your email address is correct on your registration form before submitting. 

Date and time: Thursday 27 August 4.00pm -5.00pm AEST
Topic: Do we need to get ethics?
Location: online via zoom, details will be shared just prior to the event
Presenter: Emily Saurman | University of Sydney, School of Public Health
Register online by: 26 August 2026

Event description: 

To be frank, when discussing possible session ideas, the topic of ethics was on the list and when thinking about what aspect to tackle, someone asked the question that is often asked: 'Do we need to get ethics?'

This interactive session will help us answer this question. This will not be a session about the process of applying for ethics approval, but will focus on information to help us determine whether ethics approval is needed. We will also work through some real example scenarios.

Presenter details:

Emily Saurman is a Senior Lecturer of Rural and Remote Public Health at the University of Sydney, member of Sydney Health Ethics, and sits on a Human Research Ethics Committee.

This seminar will be recorded and available on the member portal for AES members only.

This event has been organised by the NSW Regional Network of the AES. Our seminar series provides an opportunity for you to meet with AES members and others in the evaluation community and to share and learn from the experiences of fellow evaluators. 

Session start times:

NSW, VIC, ACT, QLD, TAS: 4.00pm

NT, SA: 3.30pm

WA: 2.00pm

NZ: 6.00pm

For other time zones please go to https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Please ensure you have access to your email address to receive the zoom details. Please also check your email address is correct on your registration form before submitting. 

 

Date and time: Friday 28 August, 12.00pm-1.00pm AEST
Topic: Choosing the Right Evaluation Lens
Presenters: Andrew Hawkins and Julie Elliot
Venue: Via Zoom. Details will be emailed to registrants just prior to the start time.
Register online by: 27 August 2026

Event description:

How do evaluators decide what kind of evaluation thinking best fits the job in front of them? In this one-hour online seminar, Andrew Hawkins and Julie Elliott will use Hawkins’ recent article, Lenses and their blind spots: A comparative framework for evaluation paradigms, to open a practical discussion about how evaluators choose their approach, often without naming it.

The session starts from a simple idea. Evaluators do not just choose methods, they also make choices about what kind of question they are trying to answer, what counts as good evidence, and how much context matters. Andrew’s paper describes six different “lenses” for doing this and argues that no single lens is best in every situation. The correct question is which lens best suits the purpose and context of the evaluation.

For practicing evaluators, this matters because many jobs require balancing accountability, learning, use, judgement and improvement at the same time. The discussion will look at how systems evaluation fits alongside other common approaches, and how being more explicit about these choices can help evaluators avoid talking past clients, stakeholders and each other.

This seminar will:
• Explain briefly the six lenses in plain language: accountability, experimental, realist, constructivist, pragmatic and systems.
• Explore the idea that many evaluators work from a default post-positivist position without always naming it, especially in mixed-methods practice.
• Discuss what systems evaluation adds, where it is strong, and where it may need to be combined with other approaches to meet real-world evaluation needs.
• Consider practical questions such as: What kind of knowledge is needed here? What is the main purpose of the evaluation? What role should context play? What might this approach miss?
• Invite discussion about how evaluators make these choices under time, budget and commissioner pressures.

There will be plenty of time for discussion focused on everyday evaluation practice, including how to make better design choices at the start of a project and how to explain those choices clearly to others.

Presenter(s) details:

Andrew Hawkins
Andrew Hawkins is Partner and Chief Evaluator at ARTD Consultants in Sydney. He is the author of Lenses and their blind spots: A comparative framework for evaluation paradigms, published in July in the European Evaluation Society’s journal ‘Evaluation’. This paper compares six evaluation lenses across 10 dimensions to help evaluators make more deliberate choices in practice.
Julie Elliott
Julie Elliott is an evaluation practitioner with a strong interest in systems evaluation, evaluative reasoning and the practical choices evaluators make when working across different approaches. Her contribution to this session focuses on opening up a useful discussion for practitioners about how systems thinking connects with accountability, learning, judgement, use and improvement in real evaluation settings.

This free event has been organised by the Systems Evaluation SIG. Our seminar series provides an opportunity for you to meet with AES members and others in the evaluation community and to share and learn from the experiences of fellow evaluators. 

This seminar will not be recorded.

Seminar start times:

VIC, NSW, ACT, TAS: 12.00pm

QLD: 11.00am

SA: 11.30 am

NT: 10.30am

WA: 9.00am

New Zealand: 2.00pm

For other time zones please go to https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Please ensure you have access to your email address just prior to the start time to access Zoom details. Please also check your email address is correct on your registration form before submitting. Thanks.

 

Date and time: Monday 31 August, 4.30pm-5.30pm ACST
Topic: Stories That Changed My Practice
Presenter: Susan Rooney-Hardy | The Story Catchers
Venue: Via Zoom. Details will be emailed to registrants just prior to the start time.
Register online by: 28 August 2026

Event description:

Join the Australian Evaluation Society South Australia for an online story circle exploring the stories that have shaped and changed our evaluation practice.

In this facilitated Zoom gathering, we will story around a series of reflective questions about the moments, experiences and conversations that have shifted how we listen, learn, ask questions and approach our work.

There is no need to prepare a formal presentation or bring a polished story. Simply bring yourself, your experiences and the wisdom you have gathered along the way.

Through small-group story circles, we will make space for lived experience, reflection and shared learning, while valuing the knowledge that emerges from people, relationships and place.

Creating space for stories and valuing the knowledge that emerges from people, relationships and place.

Looking forward to sharing and listening to your stories.

Presenter details:

Susan Rooney-Harding is a documentary filmmaker, storyteller and participatory visual researcher based in Adelaide, South Australia. Through her business, The Story Catchers – Stories for Purpose, she works with communities across Australia, Asia and the Pacific to capture stories that create understanding, strengthen relationships and inspire meaningful change. Her work brings together documentary filmmaking, anthropology and participatory evaluation with a deep interest in the ways stories shape who we are, how we belong and the futures we create. Susan is also a writer exploring themes of nature, place and the power of story to reconnect us with ourselves, one another and the living world.

If this session recorded, it will be available on the member portal only.

This free event has been organised by the AES South Australian Regional Committee. Our seminar series provides an opportunity for you to meet with AES members and others in the evaluation community and to share and learn from the experiences of fellow evaluators. 

Session start times:

• SA, NT: 4.30pm

• VIC, NSW, QLD, ACT, TAS: 5:00pm

• WA: 3.00pm

• New Zealand: 7.00pm

For other time zones please go to https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Please ensure you have access to your email address just prior to the start time to access Zoom details. Please also check your email address is correct on your registration form before submitting. Thanks.