Conversations and explorations for those grappling with complexity, evaluation, and systems change.
16–18 September 2026
Three-part conference series with Matt Healey
Join Matt and conference delegates in Darwin on Larrakia Country for three daily wrap-ups on listening, cultural governance and evaluation as a relational practice. The final episode includes the great debate on pluralism and a closing performance from the conference choir.
22 July 2026
with Dr Stephanie Godrich, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition, Edith Cowan University
Stephanie Godrich on what food systems really are, lessons from mapping and strengthening 170 food security initiatives across Western Australia, and her advice for doing this work well — get listening, get curious, and get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
26 June 2026
with Tanya Rong, Chair, Latrobe Health Assembly
Tanya Rong on what makes work genuinely place-based — why trust comes before everything, how getting the ‘preparation’ right lets participation and impact follow, and what it took to rebuild the Latrobe Health Assembly after it was defunded.
10 June 2026
with Michael Hogan, Executive Convenor, Queensland Kids Partnership
Michael Hogan on systems change for Queensland kids — why the partnership chose to convene rather than compete, how it leads, facilitates and affiliates across a fragmented ecosystem, and what it takes to shift investment toward outcomes.
26 May 2026
with Christabelle Darcy & Alison Reedy, Co-Convenors, AES 2026 Conference
Christabelle and Alison preview the 2026 AES Conference in Darwin — the 'Making Space, Valuing Place' theme, the four subthemes, the keynote line-up, and what the co-convenors are most excited about.
15 May 2026
with Diana Connell, Lived Experience Advocate & Ambassador
Diana shares her story of surviving two decades of family violence, walks through what genuine co-design with lived experience actually looks like — multiple voices, fair pay, trauma-informed practice — and makes the urgent case that women deserve more than just to survive across family violence, housing and economic security.
22 April 2026
with KA McKercher, Founder, Beyond Sticky Notes
KA unpacks why good co-design is about beauty, choice and relationships as much as methods, makes the case that most communities don't need a brand new project — just someone to notice and strengthen what's already there — and shares why endings, seasonality and patience matter as much as the work itself.
7 April 2026
with Jocelyn Bignold, CEO, McAuley Community Services for Women
Jocelyn unpacks the deep intersection between family violence and homelessness in Australia, walks us through the Safe at Home trial in Geelong and Barwon — which is flipping the script on who has to leave — and shares how systems mapping became her North Star for designing a whole-of-family approach to keeping women and children safe.
24 March 2026
with Professor Michael Flood, Queensland University of Technology
Michael unpacks the shift from arguing why men and boys should be engaged in violence prevention to the harder question of how — covering bystander approaches, the man box, why "toxic masculinity" as a phrase can backfire, and what genuinely effective primary prevention looks like in schools, workplaces, and communities.
7 March 2026
with Heidi Peterson, Lead Principal Consultant, Clear Horizon Consulting
Heidi breaks down why traditional cost-benefit analyses often fail systems change initiatives and introduces a new framework for capturing value that usually sits "beneath the surface". She explores the shift from evaluator as judge to co-constructor of value, why the best way to value a system is to get the system in the room, and how to stay pragmatic when resources are tight but the stakes are high.
21 February 2026
with John Hitchin, Co-Founder, Stories of Change
John unpacks what genuinely makes work place-based versus just happening in a place, and walks us through a new taxonomy of five categories of place-based change — each driven by different mechanisms and requiring different forms of evidence. It's a rich conversation about aligning evidence to how change actually happens, the role of relationships, and what it takes to build a field of practice.
2 February 2026
with Jessie Robinson, Founder, Mawang Consulting
Jessie Robinson on why co-design is about power, not process — and when stepping back matters more than stepping in. A conversation about First Nations ways of being, two-way learning, and what it takes to move beyond performative engagement toward genuine community-led change.
17 December 2025
with Dr Luke Craven, CEO, PLACE Australia
Luke shares PLACE Australia's defining insight from engaging with 53 place-based initiatives nationally: effective place-based work is fundamentally about governance, not geography. He outlines the three principles—subsidiarity, accountability, and partnership—that underpin meaningful practice, and explains why being "tight on purpose but loose on the how" might be the key to lasting systems change.
4 December 2025
with Dr Gretel Evans, Research Fellow, Monash University
Gretel explores the intersections between storytelling, place, and community resilience. Drawing on her work with the Fire to Flourish program, she shares insights from the upcoming Community Disaster Resilience Capability Framework and explains why a commercial dishwasher might just be one of the best indicators of a resilient community.
26 November 2025
with Dr Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead, Professor of Evaluation, University of Connecticut
Bianca helps us look beneath the surface of evaluation practice. We explore the classic fox and hedgehog metaphor and what it reveals about how evaluators operate, why our tendencies matter, and how artificial intelligence is reshaping the judgments we make and the competencies we need.
7 November 2025
with Dr Maria Michail, Associate Professor, University of Birmingham
Maria explores what happens when we stop treating suicide prevention as an individual issue and start seeing it as a system. Learn how participatory modelling can bring together lived experience and professional knowledge, why young people's voices are essential to meaningful research, and what it takes to shift from authority to authenticity.
27 October 2025
with Emma Blomkamp, Director and Learning Partner, New Know How
Emma unpacks the shades of co-design—exploring when it works, when it doesn't, and why the "co" is really about power and participation. Learn how to assess your co-design maturity, avoid common pitfalls, and why getting clear on purpose should guide every decision in collaborative processes.
13 October 2025
with Todd Miller, Associate Director of Resilience, Auckland University of Technology
Todd explores why traditional command-and-control structures only tell part of the story in emergency management. Learn how his CADEM Framework uses systems thinking to recognise emergent actors—and why building trust over a cup of tea might be the most powerful preparedness strategy we have.
29 September 2025
with Emily Gates, Associate Professor of Evaluation, Boston College
Emily explores what it really means to evaluate systemic change—and why it starts with questioning boundaries, not accepting them. Learn why evaluators may need to act less like neutral judges and more like facilitators of critical deliberation, and why the field needs to pause and self-critique before rushing to do things differently.
17–19 September 2025
Matt and Tenille bring you a daily debrief from the 2025 Australian Evaluation Society Conference in Canberra. Three episodes, three days — covering keynotes, sessions and hallway conversations on First Nations evaluation, systems thinking, equity, and what makes the evaluation community tick.
10 September 2025
with Julian King, Director, Julian King & Associates
Julian introduces his award-winning Value for Investment (VfI) approach – an interdisciplinary framework that moves beyond traditional cost-benefit analysis. Learn how to define value propositions, use rubrics for transparent evaluative reasoning, and why stakeholder perspectives are essential for assessing what really matters.
26 August 2025
with John Gargani, President, Gargani + Company
John explores the intersections of design, evaluation, and scaling impact. Learn why design and evaluation are inseparable, how the "classic" growth model of scaling falls short, and why context shapes everything when trying to create change at scale.
15 August 2025
with Dr. Skye Trudgett, CEO, Kowa
Skye demystifies what Indigenous data sovereignty really means—"caring for data so data can care for Country and community"—and shares practical steps for implementation. Learn about common misconceptions, the importance of starting from community up, and the small but powerful changes that can shift systems.
28 July 2025
with Kim Grey, President, Australian Evaluation Society & Ruth Nicholls, Director, Australian Centre for Evaluation
Go behind the scenes with the co-conveners of the 2025 Australian Evaluation Conference in Canberra. Discover what's in store under the theme "Beyond the Bubble", including keynote speakers, sessions to watch, and why the magic of evaluation conferences lies in unexpected connections.
20 July 2025
with Eleanor Williams, Managing Director, Australian Centre for Evaluation
A wide-ranging conversation on constraints, commissioning, and causation in public policy evaluation. We explore what makes evidence fit for purpose, relational commissioning, and the everyday ethical dilemmas evaluators face.
