Design & Evaluation Learning Sprint 2021

Sprint sessions

When registering you will be asked to choose which session you are attending. Zoom details will be emailed to before the Sprint commences. NOTE: All times are Australian Eastern Day Time.

Time	Session Duration Cost
4:00 PM	Panel session: Power, Failure, and washing machines: Provocations from Evaluators working in design settings Panel members: Shani Rajendra, Jo Farmer, Dr. Nic Vogelpoel, Matt Healey, Dr. Jess Dart Hosts: Dr. Jess Dart and Matt Healey The Learning Sprint kicks off true to its name - panellists will present rapid-fire provocations that relate to the Sprint’s theme: Power, failure and evaluator in the washing machine. These talks will lay the foundation for the rest of the week. An interactive discussion and Q&A will follow the provocations. Jess Dart Dr Jess Dart is a fellow of the AES, a recipient of two awards, including Outstanding... More Jess Dart Jess Dart Dr Jess Dart is a fellow of the AES, a recipient of two awards, including Outstanding Contribution to Evaluation (2018) and holds a PhD in evaluation. She has over 25 years of experience in evaluation. She works as a generalist across many sectors, domestic and international, not for Profit and Government. She has published in the American Journal of Evaluation and New Directions. Jess has presented pre-conference workshops more than 10 times, at AES and other conferences. She gets very positive feedback and is considered a highly engaging facilitator. Dr. Nic Vogelpoel Nic is a skilled and experienced engagement and evaluation specialist, adept at gathering,... More Dr. Nic Vogelpoel Dr. Nic Vogelpoel Nic is a skilled and experienced engagement and evaluation specialist, adept at gathering, interpreting and using insights and evidence to inform strategic decisions. He has undertaken assignments in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Europe. Nic draws on his broad experience in universities, philanthropic organisations and foundations, non-government organisations and charities, and government. He has led teams developing learning and evaluation frameworks and linking insights and evidence with action in a variety of contexts including: food systems and climate change, epidemic preparedness, and mental health and suicide prevention. Jo Farmer Jo Farmer brings policy expertise in work mental health and wellbeing, as well as practical and... More Jo Farmer Jo Farmer Jo Farmer brings policy expertise in work mental health and wellbeing, as well as practical and academic experience in designing trauma-informed evaluation, both for participants and evaluation teams. Matt Healey Matt Healey is a Senior Consultant and Co-Founder of First Person Consulting. He works on... More Matt Healey Matt Healey Matt Healey is a Senior Consultant and Co-Founder of First Person Consulting. He works on projects that address complex areas in the health, social justice and environmental sectors. This includes mental health and suicide prevention, health promotion, e-waste and the circular economy and social innovation. Matt has a strong interest in the intersection of design, systems and evaluation, and the role that bringing different areas of practice together can play in supporting the scaling of effective interventions and innovations. Over the last five years, he has worked with dozens of clients to understand what works, why and the different mechanisms by which these innovations can scale further. Shani Rajendra Shani Rajendra is a Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon and has been working the field of... More Shani Rajendra Shani Rajendra Shani Rajendra is a Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon and has been working the field of evaluation for over 5 years. Shani has extensive experience in community-led initiatives, organisational strategy, and social enterprise. She specialises in incorporating design thinking into evaluative practice and primarily works in community-led or systems change interventions as well as in organisational strategy. Shani has co-developed over 20 MEL plans, including with diverse community groups and in complex settings. An experienced researcher and facilitator, Shani brings her appreciation for diversity (in thought and culture) and a commitment to collaboration to her work in design and evaluation. She is most passionate about community-led change and is committed to supporting people to shift the systems that they are within. 1 hour

Time

Session

Duration

Cost

4:00 PM

Panel session: Power, Failure, and washing machines: Provocations from Evaluators working in design settings

Panel members: Shani Rajendra, Jo Farmer, Dr. Nic Vogelpoel, Matt Healey, Dr. Jess Dart

Hosts: Dr. Jess Dart and Matt Healey

The Learning Sprint kicks off true to its name - panellists will present rapid-fire provocations that relate to the Sprint’s theme: Power, failure and evaluator in the washing machine. These talks will lay the foundation for the rest of the week. An interactive discussion and Q&A will follow the provocations.

Jess Dart
Dr Jess Dart is a fellow of the AES, a recipient of two awards, including Outstanding... More

Jess Dart

Jess Dart

Dr Jess Dart is a fellow of the AES, a recipient of two awards, including Outstanding Contribution to Evaluation (2018) and holds a PhD in evaluation. She has over 25 years of experience in evaluation. She works as a generalist across many sectors, domestic and international, not for Profit and Government. She has published in the American Journal of Evaluation and New Directions. Jess has presented pre-conference workshops more than 10 times, at AES and other conferences. She gets very positive feedback and is considered a highly engaging facilitator.

Dr. Nic Vogelpoel
Nic is a skilled and experienced engagement and evaluation specialist, adept at gathering,... More

Dr. Nic Vogelpoel

Dr. Nic Vogelpoel

Nic is a skilled and experienced engagement and evaluation specialist, adept at gathering, interpreting and using insights and evidence to inform strategic decisions. He has undertaken assignments in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Europe. Nic draws on his broad experience in universities, philanthropic organisations and foundations, non-government organisations and charities, and government. He has led teams developing learning and evaluation frameworks and linking insights and evidence with action in a variety of contexts including: food systems and climate change, epidemic preparedness, and mental health and suicide prevention.

Jo Farmer
Jo Farmer brings policy expertise in work mental health and wellbeing, as well as practical and... More

Jo Farmer

Jo Farmer

Jo Farmer brings policy expertise in work mental health and wellbeing, as well as practical and academic experience in designing trauma-informed evaluation, both for participants and evaluation teams.

Matt Healey
Matt Healey is a Senior Consultant and Co-Founder of First Person Consulting. He works on... More

Matt Healey

Matt Healey

Matt Healey is a Senior Consultant and Co-Founder of First Person Consulting. He works on projects that address complex areas in the health, social justice and environmental sectors. This includes mental health and suicide prevention, health promotion, e-waste and the circular economy and social innovation.

Matt has a strong interest in the intersection of design, systems and evaluation, and the role that bringing different areas of practice together can play in supporting the scaling of effective interventions and innovations. Over the last five years, he has worked with dozens of clients to understand what works, why and the different mechanisms by which these innovations can scale further.

Shani Rajendra
Shani Rajendra is a Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon and has been working the field of... More

Shani Rajendra

Shani Rajendra

Shani Rajendra is a Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon and has been working the field of evaluation for over 5 years. Shani has extensive experience in community-led initiatives, organisational strategy, and social enterprise. She specialises in incorporating design thinking into evaluative practice and primarily works in community-led or systems change interventions as well as in organisational strategy. Shani has co-developed over 20 MEL plans, including with diverse community groups and in complex settings.

An experienced researcher and facilitator, Shani brings her appreciation for diversity (in thought and culture) and a commitment to collaboration to her work in design and evaluation. She is most passionate about community-led change and is committed to supporting people to shift the systems that they are within.

1 hour

Time	Session Duration Cost
4:00 PM	The benefits of Failure Facilitator: Matt Healey The increasing appetite from government, philanthropy and other funders for innovative approaches to complex social and environment challenges has driven many towards trends such as design thinking, human centred design and co-design. These design approaches emphasise (among other things) a willingness to try and fail, and, most importantly, to learn from that failure as part of iterative design processes. Conversations about failure in the context of evaluation practice are far less normal. While evaluators may identify failures and learning related to what we are evaluating, our own practice failings (and learning) are typically kept close to the chest. Given that, how might we: frame our failures or mistakes constructively to maximise learning? share our failures or mistakes to support the next generation of evaluators in their journey? create a culture of sharing and learning of evaluation failures and mistakes to help normalise the benefits of failure? This interactive session addresses these questions through facilitated discussion, activities and shared introspection and reflection. The session will be guided by a set of house rules to ensure that participants feel comfortable and able to participate in a way that is supported by all in attendance. Matt Healey Matt Healey is a Senior Consultant and Co-Founder of First Person Consulting. He works on... More Matt Healey Matt Healey Matt Healey is a Senior Consultant and Co-Founder of First Person Consulting. He works on projects that address complex areas in the health, social justice and environmental sectors. This includes mental health and suicide prevention, health promotion, e-waste and the circular economy and social innovation. Matt has a strong interest in the intersection of design, systems and evaluation, and the role that bringing different areas of practice together can play in supporting the scaling of effective interventions and innovations. Over the last five years, he has worked with dozens of clients to understand what works, why and the different mechanisms by which these innovations can scale further. 1 hour

Time

Session

Duration

Cost

4:00 PM

The benefits of Failure
Facilitator: Matt Healey

The increasing appetite from government, philanthropy and other funders for innovative approaches to complex social and environment challenges has driven many towards trends such as design thinking, human centred design and co-design. These design approaches emphasise (among other things) a willingness to try and fail, and, most importantly, to learn from that failure as part of iterative design processes.

Conversations about failure in the context of evaluation practice are far less normal. While evaluators may identify failures and learning related to what we are evaluating, our own practice failings (and learning) are typically kept close to the chest. Given that, how might we:

frame our failures or mistakes constructively to maximise learning?

share our failures or mistakes to support the next generation of evaluators in their journey?

create a culture of sharing and learning of evaluation failures and mistakes to help normalise the benefits of failure?

This interactive session addresses these questions through facilitated discussion, activities and shared introspection and reflection. The session will be guided by a set of house rules to ensure that participants feel comfortable and able to participate in a way that is supported by all in attendance.
Matt Healey
Matt Healey is a Senior Consultant and Co-Founder of First Person Consulting. He works on... More

Matt Healey

Matt Healey

Matt Healey is a Senior Consultant and Co-Founder of First Person Consulting. He works on projects that address complex areas in the health, social justice and environmental sectors. This includes mental health and suicide prevention, health promotion, e-waste and the circular economy and social innovation.

Matt has a strong interest in the intersection of design, systems and evaluation, and the role that bringing different areas of practice together can play in supporting the scaling of effective interventions and innovations. Over the last five years, he has worked with dozens of clients to understand what works, why and the different mechanisms by which these innovations can scale further.
1 hour

Time	Session Duration Cost
4:00 PM	Power Facilitators: Shani Rajendra, Jo Farmer Power underpins all service user interactions with services, programs and policies. But designers and evaluators of these interventions often don’t attend to the issues of power as much as they should in their work. Without understanding, acknowledging and addressing power, this work can replicate the problems with the systems they’re seeking to address in the first place. This risks entrenching privilege and power, and further marginalising those that programs and policies aim to support. In this session, we will present some frameworks for understanding and identifying power in your work – and the impact it has on your projects. Through this, attendees will co-develop a checklist for identifying issues of power and addressing them throughout a project lifecycle. Jo Farmer Jo Farmer brings policy expertise in work mental health and wellbeing, as well as practical and... More Jo Farmer Jo Farmer Jo Farmer brings policy expertise in work mental health and wellbeing, as well as practical and academic experience in designing trauma-informed evaluation, both for participants and evaluation teams. Shani Rajendra Shani Rajendra is a Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon and has been working the field of... More Shani Rajendra Shani Rajendra Shani Rajendra is a Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon and has been working the field of evaluation for over 5 years. Shani has extensive experience in community-led initiatives, organisational strategy, and social enterprise. She specialises in incorporating design thinking into evaluative practice and primarily works in community-led or systems change interventions as well as in organisational strategy. Shani has co-developed over 20 MEL plans, including with diverse community groups and in complex settings. An experienced researcher and facilitator, Shani brings her appreciation for diversity (in thought and culture) and a commitment to collaboration to her work in design and evaluation. She is most passionate about community-led change and is committed to supporting people to shift the systems that they are within. 1 hour

Time

Session

Duration

Cost

4:00 PM

Power

Facilitators: Shani Rajendra, Jo Farmer

Power underpins all service user interactions with services, programs and policies. But designers and evaluators of these interventions often don’t attend to the issues of power as much as they should in their work. Without understanding, acknowledging and addressing power, this work can replicate the problems with the systems they’re seeking to address in the first place. This risks entrenching privilege and power, and further marginalising those that programs and policies aim to support.

In this session, we will present some frameworks for understanding and identifying power in your work – and the impact it has on your projects. Through this, attendees will co-develop a checklist for identifying issues of power and addressing them throughout a project lifecycle.

Jo Farmer
Jo Farmer brings policy expertise in work mental health and wellbeing, as well as practical and... More

Jo Farmer

Jo Farmer

Jo Farmer brings policy expertise in work mental health and wellbeing, as well as practical and academic experience in designing trauma-informed evaluation, both for participants and evaluation teams.

Shani Rajendra
Shani Rajendra is a Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon and has been working the field of... More

Shani Rajendra

Shani Rajendra

Shani Rajendra is a Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon and has been working the field of evaluation for over 5 years. Shani has extensive experience in community-led initiatives, organisational strategy, and social enterprise. She specialises in incorporating design thinking into evaluative practice and primarily works in community-led or systems change interventions as well as in organisational strategy. Shani has co-developed over 20 MEL plans, including with diverse community groups and in complex settings.

An experienced researcher and facilitator, Shani brings her appreciation for diversity (in thought and culture) and a commitment to collaboration to her work in design and evaluation. She is most passionate about community-led change and is committed to supporting people to shift the systems that they are within.

1 hour

Time	Session Duration Cost
4:00 PM	The Role of multi-stakeholder partnerships in innovation Facilitators: Dr. Nic Vogelpoel and Assoc. Prof. Cameron Wills Collaborative, multi-sector and multi-stakeholder partnerships are increasingly the go-to approach for tackling complex problems. Often, these entities invest much of their efforts in processes rooted in design to identify new ideas, new solutions, and new ways of tackling the same problems. The role of learning and evaluation within partnerships and platforms that are collaborating to address complexity is often an afterthought; a constant focus on newness and innovation neglects the great value and opportunity in learning about what works, for whom and under what conditions. What if we spent less time designing new solutions, and more time improving the interventions and approaches we have been learning about and evaluating? In this interactive session, we’ll spend some time investigating how learning and evaluation can support the design of innovation, and discuss some of the ways to begin embedding learning and evaluation into collaborative ventures. Followed by: Jess Dart Wraps up the week. Jess Dart Dr Jess Dart is a fellow of the AES, a recipient of two awards, including Outstanding... More Jess Dart Jess Dart Dr Jess Dart is a fellow of the AES, a recipient of two awards, including Outstanding Contribution to Evaluation (2018) and holds a PhD in evaluation. She has over 25 years of experience in evaluation. She works as a generalist across many sectors, domestic and international, not for Profit and Government. She has published in the American Journal of Evaluation and New Directions. Jess has presented pre-conference workshops more than 10 times, at AES and other conferences. She gets very positive feedback and is considered a highly engaging facilitator. Dr. Nic Vogelpoel Nic is a skilled and experienced engagement and evaluation specialist, adept at gathering,... More Dr. Nic Vogelpoel Dr. Nic Vogelpoel Nic is a skilled and experienced engagement and evaluation specialist, adept at gathering, interpreting and using insights and evidence to inform strategic decisions. He has undertaken assignments in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Europe. Nic draws on his broad experience in universities, philanthropic organisations and foundations, non-government organisations and charities, and government. He has led teams developing learning and evaluation frameworks and linking insights and evidence with action in a variety of contexts including: food systems and climate change, epidemic preparedness, and mental health and suicide prevention. Assoc Prof Cameron Willis Over the past 15 years Cameron has conducted research, monitoring and evaluation engagements in... More Assoc Prof Cameron Willis Assoc Prof Cameron Willis Over the past 15 years Cameron has conducted research, monitoring and evaluation engagements in Australia, Canada and Europe. Cameron has a deep understanding of systems approaches for addressing complex social challenges, with a particular focus on the role of multi-sectoral platforms and networks for addressing the social determinants of health. Cameron has expertise in developing robust outcome- focused research, monitoring and evaluation strategies, including identifying and validating indicators for measuring performance. This includes work in chronic disease prevention, mental health, and major trauma. He holds a PhD in epidemiology from Monash University and is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Arts and Design at Swinburne University in Melbourne 1 hour

Time

Session

Duration

Cost

4:00 PM

The Role of multi-stakeholder partnerships in innovation

Facilitators: Dr. Nic Vogelpoel and Assoc. Prof. Cameron Wills

Collaborative, multi-sector and multi-stakeholder partnerships are increasingly the go-to approach for tackling complex problems. Often, these entities invest much of their efforts in processes rooted in design to identify new ideas, new solutions, and new ways of tackling the same problems. The role of learning and evaluation within partnerships and platforms that are collaborating to address complexity is often an afterthought; a constant focus on newness and innovation neglects the great value and opportunity in learning about what works, for whom and under what conditions.

What if we spent less time designing new solutions, and more time improving the interventions and approaches we have been learning about and evaluating?

In this interactive session, we’ll spend some time investigating how learning and evaluation can support the design of innovation, and discuss some of the ways to begin embedding learning and evaluation into collaborative ventures.

Followed by: Jess Dart Wraps up the week.

Jess Dart
Dr Jess Dart is a fellow of the AES, a recipient of two awards, including Outstanding... More

Jess Dart

Jess Dart

Dr Jess Dart is a fellow of the AES, a recipient of two awards, including Outstanding Contribution to Evaluation (2018) and holds a PhD in evaluation. She has over 25 years of experience in evaluation. She works as a generalist across many sectors, domestic and international, not for Profit and Government. She has published in the American Journal of Evaluation and New Directions. Jess has presented pre-conference workshops more than 10 times, at AES and other conferences. She gets very positive feedback and is considered a highly engaging facilitator.

Dr. Nic Vogelpoel
Nic is a skilled and experienced engagement and evaluation specialist, adept at gathering,... More

Dr. Nic Vogelpoel

Dr. Nic Vogelpoel

Nic is a skilled and experienced engagement and evaluation specialist, adept at gathering, interpreting and using insights and evidence to inform strategic decisions. He has undertaken assignments in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Europe. Nic draws on his broad experience in universities, philanthropic organisations and foundations, non-government organisations and charities, and government. He has led teams developing learning and evaluation frameworks and linking insights and evidence with action in a variety of contexts including: food systems and climate change, epidemic preparedness, and mental health and suicide prevention.

Assoc Prof Cameron Willis
Over the past 15 years Cameron has conducted research, monitoring and evaluation engagements in... More

Assoc Prof Cameron Willis

Assoc Prof Cameron Willis

Over the past 15 years Cameron has conducted research, monitoring and evaluation engagements in Australia, Canada and Europe. Cameron has a deep understanding of systems approaches for addressing complex social challenges, with a particular focus on the role of multi-sectoral platforms and networks for addressing the social determinants of health. Cameron has expertise in developing robust outcome- focused research, monitoring and evaluation strategies, including identifying and validating indicators for measuring performance. This includes work in chronic disease prevention, mental health, and major trauma. He holds a PhD in epidemiology from Monash University and is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Arts and Design at Swinburne University in Melbourne

1 hour

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