Invitation from the AES President

The Australasian Evaluation Society's 23rd annual international conference brings together practitioners, managers, academics, students, users and others with an interest in evaluation for several days of professional development, robust discussion and networking. What better place to do this than in beautiful Brisbane in October.

In line with the role of evaluation as a process of high quality systematic examination, this year's conference has sponsored a leading international evaluator, Valerie Caracelli from the US Government Accountability Office, to provide a keynote address on overseas developments in evaluation theory and practice. Two Fellows of the AES will be presenting keynote addresses: John Owens and Sue Funnell. In addition, Phillip Adams, one of Australia's 100 living treasures, will provide a thought provoking and entertaining address to the conference. I have no doubt that each of the keynote speakers, as well as the many other conference presenters, will challenge your view of evaluation and ignite new ways of looking at evaluation and its uses.

The Society puts a lot of effort into planning its conferences to ensure they meet the needs of the diverse range of delegates who attend. The 2005 Conference will appeal to those who are involved in strategic policy development and planning, program development and evaluation, review and audits and project planning, as well as anyone seeking to introduce or improve organisational and program change processes. The combination of workshops presented by some of the leading evaluators and academics in Australia and New Zealand, and presentations by a range of evaluation researchers and practitioners provides a unique opportunity to gain good value for money.

I hope you will take up this opportunity, and I look forward to seeing you in Brisbane in October.

Dr Rick Cummings
President
Australasian Evaluation Society
Guest Speakers
Valerie Caracelli
US Government Accountability Office
VALERIE CARACELLI is a Senior Social Science Analyst in the Center for Evaluation Methods and Issues, in Applied Research and Methods, at GAO. She focuses on building evaluation capacity in the federal government and on using meta-evaluation and mixed methods to improve the quality, understanding, and the use of evaluation research. Her interest in multidisciplinary forms of inquiry led her to examine how audits, investigations, and evaluation together help strengthen accountability assessments. With GAO's Stephanie Shipman, she is responding to a request from Congress to examine federal agencies' evaluations stemming from the Office of Management and Budget reviews that use OMB's Program Assessment Rating Tool. Valerie's Ph D is in developmental psychology from New York's Cornell University (1988); her B.A. was in psychology from Fordham University (1978). She coedited New Directions in Evaluation volumes with Hallie Preskill on Evaluation Use (no.88) and with Jennifer Greene on Mixed Methods (no. 74). She jointly authored a chapter in Handbook of Mixed Methods (2003), edited by A. Tashakkori and C. Teddlie. She serves on the boards of Washington Evaluators and the Evaluation Use TIG of the American Evaluation Association.
 
Phillip Adams
PHILLIP ADAMS is a noted Australian social commentator, columnist and radio presenter has been invited to challenge and provoke our thinking around evaluation. Phillip was recently elected one of Australia's 100 National Living Treasures in a National Trust poll. He played a key role in the establishment of the Australia Council and has been Chairman of the Film Radio & Television Board, the Australian Film Commission, Film Australia, the Australian Film Institute, the Commission for the Future and the National Australia Day Council. He currently chairs the Advisory Board of the Centre for the Mind at the University of Sydney. For the past 15 years he's presented 'Late Night Live', one of Australia's most influential radio programs, Radio National and Radio Australia. His columns in The Australian appear on the Op Ed page on Tuesday and in the Weekend Magazine.
 
John Owen
AES Fellow
JOHN OWEN is interested in the dissemination and use of knowledge created through research and evaluation and other forms of social enquiry. In particular, he is concerned with the design and conduct of evaluative studies to inform decision-making by individuals and groups. He also has a strong conceptual understanding of implementation and change in organisational settings and, in particular, in educational systems. He is a regular contributor to journals and at international evaluation conferences in Australia and overseas. He is currently on the advisory boards of three international evaluation journals and is Chair of the Publications Committee of the Australasian Evaluation Society.
 
Sue Funnell
AES Fellow
SUE FUNNELL is a Past President of the AES. She is a recipient of the ET&S Award given by the AES for outstanding contribution to evaluation in Australasia and was elected as one of six inaugural Fellows of the AES in 2003. She played a significant role in initiating the development and thinking behind what has now become the International Organisation for Co-operation in Evaluation. Since the mid -1980's Sue has played a leading role in the development and application of program logic and program theory for planning, monitoring and evaluation in Australasia. Her work in this area is recognised and used internationally. Since 1992 she has been providing consultancy and training services in program logic, planning, monitoring and evaluation to many organisations in Australia, New Zealand and internationally.
 
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