{"id":2942,"date":"2025-02-13T14:38:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T14:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas?p=2942"},"modified":"2026-02-24T10:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T10:59:08","slug":"the-future-of-evaluation-in-health-and-social-care-symposium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2942\" class=\"elementor elementor-2942\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c08efb9 e-flex e-con-boxed wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no wpr-column-slider-no wpr-equal-height-no e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"c08efb9\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d984476 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"d984476\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Authors:\u00a0 Professor Angela Bate, Professor Sonia Dalkin &amp; Dr Jason Scott\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a7d5774 elementor-icon-list--layout-traditional elementor-list-item-link-full_width elementor-widget elementor-widget-icon-list\" data-id=\"a7d5774\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"icon-list.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-icon-list-items\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text\">Contents<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#IDEAS\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-right\" viewBox=\"0 0 320 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M285.476 272.971L91.132 467.314c-9.373 9.373-24.569 9.373-33.941 0l-22.667-22.667c-9.357-9.357-9.375-24.522-.04-33.901L188.505 256 34.484 101.255c-9.335-9.379-9.317-24.544.04-33.901l22.667-22.667c9.373-9.373 24.569-9.373 33.941 0L285.475 239.03c9.373 9.372 9.373 24.568.001 33.941z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text\">IDEAS<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#More_Than_Minutes\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-right\" viewBox=\"0 0 320 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M285.476 272.971L91.132 467.314c-9.373 9.373-24.569 9.373-33.941 0l-22.667-22.667c-9.357-9.357-9.375-24.522-.04-33.901L188.505 256 34.484 101.255c-9.335-9.379-9.317-24.544.04-33.901l22.667-22.667c9.373-9.373 24.569-9.373 33.941 0L285.475 239.03c9.373 9.372 9.373 24.568.001 33.941z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text\">More Than Minutes<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-47f2ef5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"47f2ef5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"486\" src=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-DSCF5728-1-1024x486.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-4370\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-DSCF5728-1-1024x486.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-DSCF5728-1-300x142.jpg 300w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-DSCF5728-1-768x364.jpg 768w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-DSCF5728-1-1536x728.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-DSCF5728-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1ded05c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1ded05c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em>The IDEAS-NET Team (L-R), Dr Eduwin Pakpahan, Professor Tracy Finch, Dr Sebastian Potthoff, Professor Katie Haighton, Professor Angela Bate (Co-Director), Professor Sonia Dalkin (Co-Director), Professor Joanne Gray, Professor Tom Sanders, Dr Jason Scott (Deputy Director), Professor Darren Flynn, Jamie Taylor (Project Manager)<\/em><\/p><p><em>Photography: Del Stevyn<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6480001 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6480001\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"IDEAS\"><strong style=\"font-size: 16px;\">IDEAS<\/strong><\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div id=\"&lt;div\">The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care symposium was pivotal in celebrating the launch of the recently funded National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) National Evaluation Team (NET), IDEAS, located at Northumbria University. The event also offered the opportunity for IDEAS to come together with other NIHR evaluation teams to share experience and expertise. Thanks especially to the contributions from the BRACE (Birmingham, RAND and Cambridge) Rapid Evaluation Team and ROSE-NET (Manchester-Leeds Collaborative) National Evaluation Team.<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-064cf7a elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"064cf7a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/125-DSCF6909-1024x576.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-4036\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/125-DSCF6909-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/125-DSCF6909-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/125-DSCF6909-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/125-DSCF6909-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/125-DSCF6909.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ca4f752 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"ca4f752\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em>The IDEAS-NET Executive Team (L-R), Professor David Croisdale-Appleby (Chair of our<\/em><em>\u00a0National Advisory Group), Professor Angela Bate (Co-Director), Professor Sonia Dalkin (Co-Director) &amp; Dr Jason Scott (Deputy Director)<\/em><\/p><p><em>Photography: Del Stevyn<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-29974e6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"29974e6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"More_Than_Minutes\"><div><strong style=\"font-size: 16px;\">More than Minutes<\/strong><\/div><\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Now that we have had the time to recover from an intense and stimulating 3-days, we thought it would be opportune to share some of the initial lessons and reflections from the symposium, drawing on the visual minutes that were sketched by More Than Minutes which brilliantly capture key moments from the Symposium.\u00a0 Whilst we credit some of our speakers, we acknowledge that many themes recurred throughout the plenary presentations, breakouts and delegate feedback.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3c6cdbf e-flex e-con-boxed wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no wpr-column-slider-no wpr-equal-height-no e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"3c6cdbf\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4a93908 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"4a93908\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM1-1020x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-3306\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM1-1020x1024.jpg 1020w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM1-768x771.jpg 768w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM1.jpg 1530w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1c5cc94 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1c5cc94\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em>Visual minutes from the symposium, sketched by &#8216;More Than Minutes&#8217;, pg.1\/2.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0472352 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"0472352\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM2-1024x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-3309\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM2-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM2-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MTM2.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-db9db8f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"db9db8f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em>Visual minutes from the symposium, sketched by &#8216;More Than Minutes&#8217;, pg.2\/2.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-febbe18 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"febbe18\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"6\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Embrace<b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> complexity<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> in evaluation. Portrayed by the black elephant standing in the pool of complexity (pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes)<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, the image signifies the concept that both evaluation and policy-makers often seek to ignore or downplay complexity even when the complexities are anticipated, widely reported, and significant. Mike Kelly emphasised the importance of this to policy making it clear that we need to move away from seeking \u2018easy answers\u2019 and simple solutions to the inherently complex problems in health and social care evaluation and simple solutions to. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul><ul><li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"6\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Recognise the limits of silos and hierarchies<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> (disciplinary, evidence, and methods) and engage in collaborative, inter-disciplinary working to determine not only \u2018if\u2019 but also understand \u2018how\u2019 interventions or policies work (as represented by the \u2018black box\u2019 at the top of pg. 1 in the visual minutes) in order to develop \u2018practical but contingent advice that is useful in the real world\u2019. The visual minutes highlight moving away from a hierarchy of evidence, and instead towards a toolkit of evaluation approaches, each fit for purpose when used to answer the appropriate research question (pg. 1 top left of the visual minutes).<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul><ul><li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"6\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Don\u2019t scrimp on the scope <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">a term coined by our colleagues at BRACE (illustrated by the telescope <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">pg. 2 of the visual minutes)<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> to emphasise the importance of allocating sufficient time and resources to understanding and defining: what it is being evaluated, the range of perspectives and stakeholders involved, the evaluation questions that need to be addressed, and the evaluability of these questions based on the availability of historical and prospective evidence and data (among other things).\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul><ul><li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"6\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"4\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Learn from the past to guide the present and future <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">avoid institutional amnesia (represented pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes), by documenting and synthesising previous evidence to learn from past mistakes, contextualise past decisions (recognising that these don\u2019t occur in a political vacuum), and move toward a model of cumulative learning (illustrated as Ray Pawson waving farewell to the accreditation (of programmes) train, and thus moving away from pass or fail verdicts and towards cumulative learning, pg. 1 middle of the visual minutes).\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul><ul><li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"6\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"5\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Seek alternative explanations <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">and be iterative in our designs to allow further exploration. Rachel Meacock used the example of community healthcare (pg. 2 top left of the visual minutes), to illustrate how different data and levels of data analysis can tell different stories, and illustrated the importance of theorising possible causal contextual and mechanistic explanations of how and why this might be to make sense of the results and inform future data collection; highlighting the need to theorise and to move between the empirical and the abstract to do so (pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes).<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"6\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"6\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Take risks <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">in commissioning and conducting evaluations including those borne by universities (employ researchers on secure contracts), funders and funding committees (fund larger interdisciplinary teams, longitudinal studies, and novel and live evaluations, employing stop\/go criteria and staggered funding), and policy makers (accepting uncertainty in decision-making). <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">represented by the checklist pg1 middle) (illustrated pg. 2 of the visual minutes).<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-050d8a0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"050d8a0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Each of these themes are reflected in, and will continue to inform, our approach to evaluation in IDEAS-NET.\u00a0<\/p><p>Thank you to everyone who attended or was involved in the delivery and organisation to make the event a success. We are overwhelmed by the positive feedback we have received. Watch this space&#8230;\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ded4c6c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"ded4c6c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong data-start=\"67\" data-end=\"82\">Disclaimer:<\/strong><br data-start=\"82\" data-end=\"85\" \/>For any individuals or organisations wishing to re-use or distribute materials from <em data-start=\"169\" data-end=\"219\">The Future of Evaluation in Health &amp; Social Care<\/em> symposium, please contact the IDEAS Team at <a rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"264\" data-end=\"321\">ideas@northumbria.ac.uk.<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Authors:\u00a0 Professor Angela Bate, Professor Sonia Dalkin &amp; Dr Jason Scott\u00a0 Contents IDEAS More Than Minutes The IDEAS-NET Team (L-R), Dr Eduwin Pakpahan, Professor Tracy Finch, Dr Sebastian Potthoff, Professor Katie Haighton, Professor Angela Bate (Co-Director), Professor Sonia Dalkin (Co-Director), Professor Joanne Gray, Professor Tom Sanders, Dr Jason Scott (Deputy Director), Professor Darren Flynn, Jamie Taylor (Project Manager) Photography: Del Stevyn IDEAS\u00a0The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care symposium was pivotal in celebrating the launch of the recently funded National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) National Evaluation Team (NET), IDEAS, located at Northumbria University. The event also offered the opportunity for IDEAS to come together with other NIHR evaluation teams to share experience and expertise. Thanks especially to the contributions from the BRACE (Birmingham, RAND and Cambridge) Rapid Evaluation Team and ROSE-NET (Manchester-Leeds Collaborative) National Evaluation Team. The IDEAS-NET Executive Team (L-R), Professor David Croisdale-Appleby (Chair of our\u00a0National Advisory Group), Professor Angela Bate (Co-Director), Professor Sonia Dalkin (Co-Director) &amp; Dr Jason Scott (Deputy Director) Photography: Del Stevyn More than Minutes\u00a0 Now that we have had the time to recover from an intense and stimulating 3-days, we thought it would be opportune to share some of the initial lessons and reflections from the symposium, drawing on the visual minutes that were sketched by More Than Minutes which brilliantly capture key moments from the Symposium.\u00a0 Whilst we credit some of our speakers, we acknowledge that many themes recurred throughout the plenary presentations, breakouts and delegate feedback.\u00a0 Visual minutes from the symposium, sketched by &#8216;More Than Minutes&#8217;, pg.1\/2. Visual minutes from the symposium, sketched by &#8216;More Than Minutes&#8217;, pg.2\/2. Embrace complexity in evaluation. Portrayed by the black elephant standing in the pool of complexity (pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes), the image signifies the concept that both evaluation and policy-makers often seek to ignore or downplay complexity even when the complexities are anticipated, widely reported, and significant. Mike Kelly emphasised the importance of this to policy making it clear that we need to move away from seeking \u2018easy answers\u2019 and simple solutions to the inherently complex problems in health and social care evaluation and simple solutions to. \u00a0 Recognise the limits of silos and hierarchies (disciplinary, evidence, and methods) and engage in collaborative, inter-disciplinary working to determine not only \u2018if\u2019 but also understand \u2018how\u2019 interventions or policies work (as represented by the \u2018black box\u2019 at the top of pg. 1 in the visual minutes) in order to develop \u2018practical but contingent advice that is useful in the real world\u2019. The visual minutes highlight moving away from a hierarchy of evidence, and instead towards a toolkit of evaluation approaches, each fit for purpose when used to answer the appropriate research question (pg. 1 top left of the visual minutes).\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t scrimp on the scope a term coined by our colleagues at BRACE (illustrated by the telescope pg. 2 of the visual minutes) to emphasise the importance of allocating sufficient time and resources to understanding and defining: what it is being evaluated, the range of perspectives and stakeholders involved, the evaluation questions that need to be addressed, and the evaluability of these questions based on the availability of historical and prospective evidence and data (among other things).\u00a0\u00a0 Learn from the past to guide the present and future avoid institutional amnesia (represented pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes), by documenting and synthesising previous evidence to learn from past mistakes, contextualise past decisions (recognising that these don\u2019t occur in a political vacuum), and move toward a model of cumulative learning (illustrated as Ray Pawson waving farewell to the accreditation (of programmes) train, and thus moving away from pass or fail verdicts and towards cumulative learning, pg. 1 middle of the visual minutes).\u00a0\u00a0 Seek alternative explanations and be iterative in our designs to allow further exploration. Rachel Meacock used the example of community healthcare (pg. 2 top left of the visual minutes), to illustrate how different data and levels of data analysis can tell different stories, and illustrated the importance of theorising possible causal contextual and mechanistic explanations of how and why this might be to make sense of the results and inform future data collection; highlighting the need to theorise and to move between the empirical and the abstract to do so (pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes).\u00a0 Take risks in commissioning and conducting evaluations including those borne by universities (employ researchers on secure contracts), funders and funding committees (fund larger interdisciplinary teams, longitudinal studies, and novel and live evaluations, employing stop\/go criteria and staggered funding), and policy makers (accepting uncertainty in decision-making). represented by the checklist pg1 middle) (illustrated pg. 2 of the visual minutes).\u00a0 Each of these themes are reflected in, and will continue to inform, our approach to evaluation in IDEAS-NET.\u00a0 Thank you to everyone who attended or was involved in the delivery and organisation to make the event a success. We are overwhelmed by the positive feedback we have received. Watch this space&#8230;\u00a0 Disclaimer:For any individuals or organisations wishing to re-use or distribute materials from The Future of Evaluation in Health &amp; Social Care symposium, please contact the IDEAS Team at ideas@northumbria.ac.uk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Reflections on The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium - IDEAS-NET<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reflections on The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium - IDEAS-NET\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Authors:\u00a0 Professor Angela Bate, Professor Sonia Dalkin &amp; Dr Jason Scott\u00a0 Contents IDEAS More Than Minutes The IDEAS-NET Team (L-R), Dr Eduwin Pakpahan, Professor Tracy Finch, Dr Sebastian Potthoff, Professor Katie Haighton, Professor Angela Bate (Co-Director), Professor Sonia Dalkin (Co-Director), Professor Joanne Gray, Professor Tom Sanders, Dr Jason Scott (Deputy Director), Professor Darren Flynn, Jamie Taylor (Project Manager) Photography: Del Stevyn IDEAS\u00a0The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care symposium was pivotal in celebrating the launch of the recently funded National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) National Evaluation Team (NET), IDEAS, located at Northumbria University. The event also offered the opportunity for IDEAS to come together with other NIHR evaluation teams to share experience and expertise. Thanks especially to the contributions from the BRACE (Birmingham, RAND and Cambridge) Rapid Evaluation Team and ROSE-NET (Manchester-Leeds Collaborative) National Evaluation Team. The IDEAS-NET Executive Team (L-R), Professor David Croisdale-Appleby (Chair of our\u00a0National Advisory Group), Professor Angela Bate (Co-Director), Professor Sonia Dalkin (Co-Director) &amp; Dr Jason Scott (Deputy Director) Photography: Del Stevyn More than Minutes\u00a0 Now that we have had the time to recover from an intense and stimulating 3-days, we thought it would be opportune to share some of the initial lessons and reflections from the symposium, drawing on the visual minutes that were sketched by More Than Minutes which brilliantly capture key moments from the Symposium.\u00a0 Whilst we credit some of our speakers, we acknowledge that many themes recurred throughout the plenary presentations, breakouts and delegate feedback.\u00a0 Visual minutes from the symposium, sketched by &#8216;More Than Minutes&#8217;, pg.1\/2. Visual minutes from the symposium, sketched by &#8216;More Than Minutes&#8217;, pg.2\/2. Embrace complexity in evaluation. Portrayed by the black elephant standing in the pool of complexity (pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes), the image signifies the concept that both evaluation and policy-makers often seek to ignore or downplay complexity even when the complexities are anticipated, widely reported, and significant. Mike Kelly emphasised the importance of this to policy making it clear that we need to move away from seeking \u2018easy answers\u2019 and simple solutions to the inherently complex problems in health and social care evaluation and simple solutions to. \u00a0 Recognise the limits of silos and hierarchies (disciplinary, evidence, and methods) and engage in collaborative, inter-disciplinary working to determine not only \u2018if\u2019 but also understand \u2018how\u2019 interventions or policies work (as represented by the \u2018black box\u2019 at the top of pg. 1 in the visual minutes) in order to develop \u2018practical but contingent advice that is useful in the real world\u2019. The visual minutes highlight moving away from a hierarchy of evidence, and instead towards a toolkit of evaluation approaches, each fit for purpose when used to answer the appropriate research question (pg. 1 top left of the visual minutes).\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t scrimp on the scope a term coined by our colleagues at BRACE (illustrated by the telescope pg. 2 of the visual minutes) to emphasise the importance of allocating sufficient time and resources to understanding and defining: what it is being evaluated, the range of perspectives and stakeholders involved, the evaluation questions that need to be addressed, and the evaluability of these questions based on the availability of historical and prospective evidence and data (among other things).\u00a0\u00a0 Learn from the past to guide the present and future avoid institutional amnesia (represented pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes), by documenting and synthesising previous evidence to learn from past mistakes, contextualise past decisions (recognising that these don\u2019t occur in a political vacuum), and move toward a model of cumulative learning (illustrated as Ray Pawson waving farewell to the accreditation (of programmes) train, and thus moving away from pass or fail verdicts and towards cumulative learning, pg. 1 middle of the visual minutes).\u00a0\u00a0 Seek alternative explanations and be iterative in our designs to allow further exploration. Rachel Meacock used the example of community healthcare (pg. 2 top left of the visual minutes), to illustrate how different data and levels of data analysis can tell different stories, and illustrated the importance of theorising possible causal contextual and mechanistic explanations of how and why this might be to make sense of the results and inform future data collection; highlighting the need to theorise and to move between the empirical and the abstract to do so (pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes).\u00a0 Take risks in commissioning and conducting evaluations including those borne by universities (employ researchers on secure contracts), funders and funding committees (fund larger interdisciplinary teams, longitudinal studies, and novel and live evaluations, employing stop\/go criteria and staggered funding), and policy makers (accepting uncertainty in decision-making). represented by the checklist pg1 middle) (illustrated pg. 2 of the visual minutes).\u00a0 Each of these themes are reflected in, and will continue to inform, our approach to evaluation in IDEAS-NET.\u00a0 Thank you to everyone who attended or was involved in the delivery and organisation to make the event a success. We are overwhelmed by the positive feedback we have received. Watch this space&#8230;\u00a0 Disclaimer:For any individuals or organisations wishing to re-use or distribute materials from The Future of Evaluation in Health &amp; Social Care symposium, please contact the IDEAS Team at ideas@northumbria.ac.uk.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IDEAS-NET\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-13T14:38:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-24T10:59:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Northumbria-University-_-Foundation-Programmes-and-Pre-Masters.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\\\/ideas\\\/?p=2942#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\\\/ideas\\\/?p=2942\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jamie Taylor\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\\\/ideas\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/989f58777cbb40d76d625350204cd0aa\"},\"headline\":\"Reflections on The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-13T14:38:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-24T10:59:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\\\/ideas\\\/?p=2942\"},\"wordCount\":868,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\\\/ideas\\\/?p=2942#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\\\/ideas\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/Northumbria-University-_-Foundation-Programmes-and-Pre-Masters.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\\\/ideas\\\/?p=2942#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\\\/ideas\\\/?p=2942\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\\\/ideas\\\/?p=2942\",\"name\":\"Reflections on The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium - 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IDEAS-NET","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reflections on The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium - IDEAS-NET","og_description":"Authors:\u00a0 Professor Angela Bate, Professor Sonia Dalkin &amp; Dr Jason Scott\u00a0 Contents IDEAS More Than Minutes The IDEAS-NET Team (L-R), Dr Eduwin Pakpahan, Professor Tracy Finch, Dr Sebastian Potthoff, Professor Katie Haighton, Professor Angela Bate (Co-Director), Professor Sonia Dalkin (Co-Director), Professor Joanne Gray, Professor Tom Sanders, Dr Jason Scott (Deputy Director), Professor Darren Flynn, Jamie Taylor (Project Manager) Photography: Del Stevyn IDEAS\u00a0The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care symposium was pivotal in celebrating the launch of the recently funded National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) National Evaluation Team (NET), IDEAS, located at Northumbria University. The event also offered the opportunity for IDEAS to come together with other NIHR evaluation teams to share experience and expertise. Thanks especially to the contributions from the BRACE (Birmingham, RAND and Cambridge) Rapid Evaluation Team and ROSE-NET (Manchester-Leeds Collaborative) National Evaluation Team. The IDEAS-NET Executive Team (L-R), Professor David Croisdale-Appleby (Chair of our\u00a0National Advisory Group), Professor Angela Bate (Co-Director), Professor Sonia Dalkin (Co-Director) &amp; Dr Jason Scott (Deputy Director) Photography: Del Stevyn More than Minutes\u00a0 Now that we have had the time to recover from an intense and stimulating 3-days, we thought it would be opportune to share some of the initial lessons and reflections from the symposium, drawing on the visual minutes that were sketched by More Than Minutes which brilliantly capture key moments from the Symposium.\u00a0 Whilst we credit some of our speakers, we acknowledge that many themes recurred throughout the plenary presentations, breakouts and delegate feedback.\u00a0 Visual minutes from the symposium, sketched by &#8216;More Than Minutes&#8217;, pg.1\/2. Visual minutes from the symposium, sketched by &#8216;More Than Minutes&#8217;, pg.2\/2. Embrace complexity in evaluation. Portrayed by the black elephant standing in the pool of complexity (pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes), the image signifies the concept that both evaluation and policy-makers often seek to ignore or downplay complexity even when the complexities are anticipated, widely reported, and significant. Mike Kelly emphasised the importance of this to policy making it clear that we need to move away from seeking \u2018easy answers\u2019 and simple solutions to the inherently complex problems in health and social care evaluation and simple solutions to. \u00a0 Recognise the limits of silos and hierarchies (disciplinary, evidence, and methods) and engage in collaborative, inter-disciplinary working to determine not only \u2018if\u2019 but also understand \u2018how\u2019 interventions or policies work (as represented by the \u2018black box\u2019 at the top of pg. 1 in the visual minutes) in order to develop \u2018practical but contingent advice that is useful in the real world\u2019. The visual minutes highlight moving away from a hierarchy of evidence, and instead towards a toolkit of evaluation approaches, each fit for purpose when used to answer the appropriate research question (pg. 1 top left of the visual minutes).\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t scrimp on the scope a term coined by our colleagues at BRACE (illustrated by the telescope pg. 2 of the visual minutes) to emphasise the importance of allocating sufficient time and resources to understanding and defining: what it is being evaluated, the range of perspectives and stakeholders involved, the evaluation questions that need to be addressed, and the evaluability of these questions based on the availability of historical and prospective evidence and data (among other things).\u00a0\u00a0 Learn from the past to guide the present and future avoid institutional amnesia (represented pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes), by documenting and synthesising previous evidence to learn from past mistakes, contextualise past decisions (recognising that these don\u2019t occur in a political vacuum), and move toward a model of cumulative learning (illustrated as Ray Pawson waving farewell to the accreditation (of programmes) train, and thus moving away from pass or fail verdicts and towards cumulative learning, pg. 1 middle of the visual minutes).\u00a0\u00a0 Seek alternative explanations and be iterative in our designs to allow further exploration. Rachel Meacock used the example of community healthcare (pg. 2 top left of the visual minutes), to illustrate how different data and levels of data analysis can tell different stories, and illustrated the importance of theorising possible causal contextual and mechanistic explanations of how and why this might be to make sense of the results and inform future data collection; highlighting the need to theorise and to move between the empirical and the abstract to do so (pg. 1 bottom left of the visual minutes).\u00a0 Take risks in commissioning and conducting evaluations including those borne by universities (employ researchers on secure contracts), funders and funding committees (fund larger interdisciplinary teams, longitudinal studies, and novel and live evaluations, employing stop\/go criteria and staggered funding), and policy makers (accepting uncertainty in decision-making). represented by the checklist pg1 middle) (illustrated pg. 2 of the visual minutes).\u00a0 Each of these themes are reflected in, and will continue to inform, our approach to evaluation in IDEAS-NET.\u00a0 Thank you to everyone who attended or was involved in the delivery and organisation to make the event a success. We are overwhelmed by the positive feedback we have received. Watch this space&#8230;\u00a0 Disclaimer:For any individuals or organisations wishing to re-use or distribute materials from The Future of Evaluation in Health &amp; Social Care symposium, please contact the IDEAS Team at ideas@northumbria.ac.uk.","og_url":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942","og_site_name":"IDEAS-NET","article_published_time":"2025-02-13T14:38:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-24T10:59:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":533,"url":"http:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Northumbria-University-_-Foundation-Programmes-and-Pre-Masters.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jamie Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jamie Taylor","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942"},"author":{"name":"Jamie Taylor","@id":"http:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/989f58777cbb40d76d625350204cd0aa"},"headline":"Reflections on The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium","datePublished":"2025-02-13T14:38:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:59:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942"},"wordCount":868,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Northumbria-University-_-Foundation-Programmes-and-Pre-Masters.jpg","articleSection":["news"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942","url":"https:\/\/research.northumbria.ac.uk\/ideas\/?p=2942","name":"Reflections on The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium - 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