Date/Time
Date(s) - 08/10/2025
14:30 - 18:00
Categories
Key areas we will be covering:
- Using Evaluations and other Evidence in Policymaking
- To Boost Health Sector Productivity in Europe
- Insights from Policymakers: European Commission, WHO and OECD
đź“… Date: 8 October 2025
đź•’ Time:
In-person:
- Time: 14:30–18:00 (CEST)
- Venue: BIP Meeting Center, Rue Royale 2-4, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium – Brussels Info Place (BIP)
- Price: Free to attend
- Language: English
Online via Zoom:
- Time: 15:00–17:00 (CEST) / 14:00–16:00 (BST)
- Price: Free to attend
- Language: English
About the Session:
Evidence and Evaluation for Better Policy-Making
Policy Focus: Addressing the Crisis in Health Sector Productivity in Europe
This is the final session of the EES–RAND Europe Evidence and Evaluation Forum for better policy making and is FREE to attend. It builds on two previous online sessions held in July which considered the issues and evidence available to address the crisis in health sector productivity in Europe.  Particularly for using innovation and developing the workforce to boost health sector productivity.
This session focuses on how evidence from evaluation and research can be better utilized to strengthen policy-making in this area.
Confirmed Speakers (all engaged in European health sector policy-making):
Mr. Dirk van den Steen Acting Head of Unit at DG SANTE at European Commission
Dirk Van den Steen is an economist working at the European Commission’s Directorate General For Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE ) as Acting Head of the unit C3 State of Health -covering the performance of national health systems. At the European Commission in the past Dirk has been involved in the development of the Cross-border Healthcare Directive, notably working on the mutual recognition of cross-border prescriptions as well as the assessment of national health systems. In the area of medical products at the European Commission Dirk also worked at the European Commission DG for Competition on antitrust enforcement in the domain of pharmaceuticals, devices and health services.. In the first half of 2024 Dirk was part of the Commission team supporting Professor Mario Draghi on the EU Competitiveness report.
Dr. Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of the Division of Country Health Policies and Systems at WHO
Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat is Director of the Division of Health Systems at the WHO Regional Office for Europe and a specialist in public health medicine. She has held senior roles in Malta’s Ministry of Health, served as EUPHA President (2016–2020), and holds a PhD on Europeanisation of health systems. She is also an associate professor at the University of Malta and a visiting scholar at Maastricht University.
Ms. Francesca Colombo, Head of the Health Division at OECD
Francesca Colombo heads OECD work on health, which aims at providing internationally comparable data on health systems and applying economic analysis to health policies, advising policy makers, stakeholders and citizens on how to respond to demands for more and better health care and make health systems more resilient and people centred.
What to Expect:
- A synthesis of the rich insights gathered during the first two sessions and through our open Call for Evidence; a chance for the community to contribute directly to shaping the conversation
- Reflections from leading policy actors on how they use evidence in practice—and where the gaps still lie
- Concrete ideas for building a stronger knowledge eco-system to address the productivity challenges facing Europe’s health sector
- An opportunity to engage with evaluators, researchers, and policymakers, reflecting together on what’s working, what’s missing, and how we can better connect evidence to real policy decisions
This hybrid event is open to the public. While the policy focus is on Europe, the topics discussed are highly relevant to a global audience and transferable to other sectors.
đź“© Register here:
- To register to attend in-person please email secretariat@europeanevaluation.org and in the subject line type   ‘I would like to attend the EEF In-Person event on 8 October 2025 in Brussels‘ and we will send you further details.
- To register to attend on-line click here
Feel free to share this information with colleagues and networks who may be interested.