Date and time: Thursday 25 June 2026, 4.30pm - 5.30pm ACST 
Topic: SA Panel: Evaluation Challenge
Location: online, via Zoom. Details will be emailed to registrants just prior to the start time
Presenters: Colin Sharp | P.E.R.S.O.N.A.L (Research and Evaluation) | John Pilla | Uneek Counselling, Maria Eliadis | Maria Eliadis Consulting and Mark Mackay | Complete the Picture Consulting
Register online by: 24 June 2026

Event description:

The purpose of this interactive session is to explore and reflect on challenges that Evaluators face with the aims of improving the design and/or evidence beyond the context given for the program and optimising the value of the evaluation within its constraints. A panel of three evaluators will consider two case studies presented from our members.

The session will be moderated by Dr Mark Mackay with three panel members: Associate Professor Colin Sharp, John Pilla and Maria Eliadis.

Invitation to present:

AES members are invited to submit their case study/challenge by 20th April to  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the interaction session to be held on 25 June at 4.30 pm Central Standard Time. Case studies and/or challenges are invited that meet one or more of the following scenarios:

Evidentiary sufficiency vs necessity: when a program is broadly efficacious, but the client requires evidence of actual (bottom line) impact will take time to materialise and beyond the evaluation period.   

Evaluation overreach: when there is misalignment between what a program can achieve in practice and program objective and the client has an expectation of the program and the evaluation that is not realistic. This could be to the ‘dosage effect’ ie the program is not sufficient to achieve the objective although the basics of the program are well considered or ‘reach effect’, the program is not sufficiently geared to reach a population required to demonstrate the desired effect.

Presenter details:

Associate Professor Colin Sharp was the first Research & Evaluation Manager of the Commonwealth in 1983 and Conference Committee member in the 1984 and1986 National Evaluation Conferences. He was eventually the original Chair of the AES Committee on Ethics and Standards in Evaluation in 1989 - 1990s, leading the development of the initial version of AES Code of Ethics and Guidelines for the Ethical Conduct of Evaluation, while he was Vice-President then President of the AES (1993- 1995) and overseeing consultations on the issues members faced and appropriate responses to them. He stepped back in 1995 to take on other responsibilities such as AES conference organisation, contributing to AES journals and the South Australian regional evaluation group in 1991 and — most recently, in 2025 — co-leading an AES mentoring group on strategic evaluation and the AES Ethics in Evaluation SIG (February 2026).

Maria Eliadis is a coach and consultant who works collaboratively to explore innovative ways of approaching complex challenges.  Maria's areas of practice include place-based program co-design and developmental evaluation. Her areas of interest include social change initiatives, 
understanding effective capacity building, setting professional and service standards and elevating Human Rights as service practices in disability service delivery. In 2011 Maria was appointed the inaugural EO of the then Australasian Evaluation Society when she oversaw the establishment of the Evaluators Professional Competency Framework, the Code of Ethics Guidelines and the Professional Learning program, in 2025 Maria joined the board of the Australian Institute of CPD Standards and in 2026 Maria was accepted as an adjudicator for the ARA Awards on governance reporting.

John Pilla is an experienced evaluator with over 25 years of experience working on large scale national evaluations as well as working with community organisations to build their evaluation capability. John has evaluated several national reform programs relating to Indigenous health, chronic disease management, education initiatives, national support programs and aged care reform initiatives. He is a recipient of a national award for best practice in evaluation and is the Regional Coordinator of the South Australian chapter of the Australian Evaluation Society.

Dr Mark Mackay is a co-founder and director of Complete the Picture Consulting and has more than 35 years of experience in the application of multi-disciplinary applied research - with a strong focus on evaluation - and strategic projects in various industries and has had a strong focus on the health sector. Mark has a particular interest in the application of data and modelling to improve decision-making and is particularly interested in helping organisations to realise the potential to use data and information to improve their operations. Mark is a board member of the Hutt Street Centre, an organisation assisting the homeless in Adelaide, and convenes the South Australian Branch Committee of the Australian Evaluation Society.

This panel will be recorded anbd available on the member portal only.

This event is organised & hosted by the South Australian 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.

Seminar start times:

SA, NT: 4.30pm

VIC, NSW, ACT, TAS, QLD: 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.