Evaluation within the public sector
Channel: Australian Evaluation Society
Date: 2021-10-26

Facilitated by Josephine Norman, APSEN Chair; Dr. Christabelle Darcy, APSEN steering group member

The session will begin with a brief update from the Chair of the Australian Public Sector Evaluation Network (APSEN) on recent activities followed by a very interesting session from ANU researchers (one of Dr Bray or Professor Gray) on their research paper Evaluation and Learning from Failure and Success.

The session will be introduced by our steering committee member Dr Christabelle Darcy, Assistant Director Program Evaluation for the Northern Territory Government, who drew on their findings as she stood up the whole of NT evaluation approach.

Josephine Norman: Jo is a manager within the Victorian Department of Health Centre for Evaluation and Research Evidence, where she leads the delivery on high profile and sensitive evaluations and reviews, such as the Review of the Medically Supervised Injecting Room. Jo is a Criminologist by training, has conducted more than a thousand individual interviews with vulnerable adults and young people, and loves the opportunity to better understand causality through the extensive linked datasets within the public sector. She has been the Chair of the Australian Public Sector Evaluation Network for the past 18 months.

Dr. Christabelle Darcy: Christabelle leads the Program Evaluation Unit within the Northern Territory Department of Treasury and Finance and is co-convenor of the Northern Territory branch of the Australian Evaluation Society. Christabelle has a background in health research and has previously worked in science and innovation policy with the Commonwealth Government and economic policy with the Northern Territory Government.

Professor Matthew Gray is Director of the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, with previous appointments include Director of Research for the College of Arts and Social Sciences and Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies. He has published research on a wide range of social and economic policy issues including those related to Indigenous Australians. Professor Gray has extensive experience in evaluating major government policies and programs including the areas of family law, place-based interventions, labour market programs, income management and the 2018 changes to the childcare system.

Dr Rob Bray joined the ANU after a long career in the Australian Public service. In policy and program areas including employment, health, aged care, housing and social security he worked at the interface of economic and social policy in a range of roles including program management, policy development and evaluation. At the ANU he has been involved in a number of major evaluations including of Income Management in the Northern Territory, and most recently the Child Care changes introduced in 2018.