Date and time: Wednesday 16 July, 2025 5.30pm-6.30pm AEST
Topic: Synthetic Control Modelling - A Gentle Introduction!
Location: online via Zoom, details will be shared just prior to the event
Presenters: George Argyrous and Squirrel Main
Register online by: 15 July 2025

Event description:

Join us for a practical online seminar exploring the use of Synthetic Control Modelling in real-world evaluation contexts. This seminar will unpack the methodology behind Synthetic Control Modelling — a powerful quasi-experimental design increasingly used to estimate causal effects when randomised trials are not feasible.

The seminar will blend theoretical insights with applied examples including a “play along” demo in RStudio.

The seminar is designed to help understand how you might be able to consider using Synthetic Control Modelling to strengthen the credibility of your counterfactuals and improve the robustness of your findings.

Presenters details:

George Argyrous completed his PhD in Economics at the New School for Social Research. Since then, he has worked within philanthropy, the university sector, teaching and also working with organisations to improve their evidence-based decision-making. He has authored several high-level government evaluation frameworks in areas as broad as disaster recovery and countering violent extremism. He has a particular passion for capability building so that practitioners can become more critical users of evidence to inform their work.

Squirrel Main has worked extensively in philanthropy and founded Australia's Philanthropic Evaluation and Data Analysis network (now known as LEAF (Learning and Evaluation for Funders). Over the past two decades, she has conducted evaluations for schools, outdoor education programs, government, childcare settings, and homelessness programs. An evaluator and a data analyst with a passion for measuring and improving outcomes across education, health and employment sectors, Squirrel completed a Masters at Stanford University in Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and holds a Masters in Journalism (data, infographics and investigative) at the University of Melbourne. She received her PhD at the University of Auckland investigating teacher support systems in low-socioeconomic schools. 

If this seminar is recorded, it will be available on the AES YouTube channel approximately four weeks after the date. We suggest you subscribe to the AES YouTube channel to be notified when new recordings are added.

This free event has been organised by the VIC 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. 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. 

Session start times:

VIC, NSW, ACT, TAS, QLD: 5.30pm

SA, NT: 5.00pm

WA: 3.30pm

New Zealand: 7.30pm

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