Date/Time
Date(s) - 14/01/2026
0:00
Categories
Sparking Discussion – Facing Tomorrow: Can Evaluation Help Shape Regenerative Futures? (Free to attend)
Facilitated by Dr Cathy Sharp and Dr Ian Goldman (scroll down to view speaker profiles)
- Date: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
- Time (CET): 14:00
- Duration: 90 minutes
- Price: Free or charge
- Registration: click here
Objectives of the ‘Sparking Discussion’ Forum
Heighten the evaluation community’s awareness of the need for a fundamentally new evaluation paradigm, given today’s polycrisis
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- Develop shared vision – build solidarity
- Engaging stakeholders – collective learning
- Evaluator central method – changing role to action researcher
- Highlight key entry points to foster change
- Community and individual resilience
Format
The initial ‘Sparking Discussion’ session runs for 90 minutes, with an optional additional 15 minutes at the end for participants who wish to continue the discussion or ask further questions.
- Session & Speaker Introductions (5 minutes) Welcome, overview of the session, and speaker introductions.
- Speakers’ Presentations (10–15 minutes) Short presentations providing key insights and framing the discussion.
- Breakout Group Discussions (15–20 minutes) Participants join small groups to explore 1–2 guiding questions in depth.
- Plenary Discussion (10 minutes) Groups return to the main room to share highlights and engage with speakers.
- Collaboration & Co-Leadership Insights (10–15 minutes) Facilitators expand on the discussion points and offer practical guidance on collaboration and co-leadership.
- Final Q&A (30 minutes) Open discussion and audience questions to conclude the session.
To attend this initial free ‘sparking discussion’ event, you will need to register online by clicking here.
Speaker Profiles:
Dr Cathy Sharp, Research for Real, Edinburgh, UK
Dr Cathy Sharp is the founder of Research for Real in Edinburgh and Honorary Professor in the School of Health at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. With interests in appreciative and systemic action research, she is recognised in the UK and internationally for work that challenges thinking and practice about leadership, participation, learning and evaluation. Cathy has been an evaluator and learning partner on a wide range of public programmes and services, allied to the UK policy ambitions for public service reform. Most recently this includes Collective Leadership for The Scottish Government and for the Scottish Directors of Public Health, and other programmes that support health and social care. For six years she led the learning partner team for What Matters to You, a place-based system change initiative funded by BBC Children in Need and the Hunter Foundation. In 2021, Cathy won The Dione Hills Tavistock Institute and UK Evaluation Society Prize for the best short paper on the application of complexity-informed thinking in the field of evaluation: “Be a participant, not a spectator – new territories for evaluation” was published in The Evaluator, Spring 2022. More information is available here: www.research-for-real.co.uk and at Grow As We Go: https://substack.com/@researchforreal
Dr Ian Goldman
Ian is President of the International Evaluation Academy, a M&E Specialist Advisor with the South African Presidency and an International Advisor on Evaluation/MEL and Evidence Systems. He was Deputy Director General in the South African Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to 2018, where he established and ran the National Evaluation System and was a founder of the Twende Mbele African Government M&E Partnership. Since 2018 Ian has been researching, training and consulting internationally in evidence use, monitoring and evaluation systems, working particularly in Africa and Asia. The International Evaluation Academy focuses on the contribution evaluation can play in addressing the polycrisis, and Ian has been very closely involved in driving a 3 Horizons initiative to explore how the evaluation field can play this transformational role. In the South African Presidency Ian has developed the MEL system for the just energy transition. He has worked in 21 countries in Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia, with government, civil society and the private sector. He is associated with the universities of Cape Town and Witwatersrand, and an editor and author of the book Evidence Use in Policy and Practice: lessons from Africa.
The conversation from this initial ‘sparking discussion’ event will set the stage for two intensive paid workshops that will equip participants to put these insights into practice:
Workshop Details:
Workshop 1
Title: Where Nothing Is Clear and Everything Keeps Changing: What It Means for Evaluation to Recognise Complexity Facilitated by Cathy Sharp
- Date: Wednesday, 11 February 2026
- Time (CET): 14:00–17:00
- Duration: 3 hours
- Price: €86 for EES Members, **€110 for Non-Members
Special rate for groups – contact secretariat@europeanevaluation.org
Registration details and facilitators’ bios to follow shortly, in the meantime please do save the date.
Workshop 2
Title: Using the Three Horizons Method to Advance Evaluation Practice for this Time of Polycrisis Facilitated by Ian Kendrick and Zenda Ofir
- Date(s): 10th & 12th March, 2026
- Time (CET): 14h00 – 16h00 each day
- Duration: 4 hours (plus breaks) split over two days to allow for participant internalisation between sessions
- Price: €180 for EES Members, **€230 for Non-Members
Special rate for groups – contact secretariat@europeanevaluation.org
Registration details and facilitators’ bios to follow shortly, in the meantime please do save the date.