NETWORK UPDATE: LAUNCH EDITION
UK EVALUATION SOCIETY
MIDLANDS REGIONAL
NETWORK
All Systems Go!
The Midlands Regional Network has now officially
launched.
We would like to thank those of you who joined us at
the launch event held at the University of Birmingham
on 7th December 2017. The event provided an
opportunity for the steering group to put faces to
names and explore what type of network members
would like.
Around twenty members of the network were able to
attend, which included presentations from Delma
Dwight, Helen Wilkinson and Rebecca Riley. It was
opened and hosted by George Bramley on behalf of the
University of Birmingham.
Special thanks go to Winning Moves who sponsored
refreshments for the launch event.
This update contains an overview of the presentations
made at the launch event, results of the network's
joining survey and an invitation to our next event.
These updates will include details of future events in
our network and beyond, summaries of network
activities and academic and practitioner contributions
(discussions, short papers, reports etc.).
FEBRUARY 2018 
Your Network
We are an inclusive network,
supporting evaluators and sharing
evaluation practice in the Midlands.
Please share news of this network and
this update with others who may be
interested. We would also be delighted
to hear from
potential network contributors.
The Network Convenor is Karl King of
Winning Moves and can be contacted
at karlk@winningmoves.com
More about your network can be found
on the UKES website, here.
Our Next Event
The next Midlands Regional Network
event will be an Evaluation Exchange
with the theme being 'Let's get real!
Putting Realist Evaluation into
practice'.
This Evaluation Exchange will take
place on 6th March 2018. See page 5
or http://bit.ly/ukesreal for more
details.
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NETWORK UPDATE FEBRUARY 2018 

OUR LAUNCH EVENT

George Bramley summarises the presentations made at our launch event in December 2017.

WEST MIDLANDS COMBINED AUTHORITY

Speaker: Delma Dwight, Director of Economic Intelligence at the Black Country Consortium
Chair: Ass. Prof. Will Rossiter, Nottingham Trent University

Delma was invited to speak to provide perspective on likely evaluation

needs of regional combined authorities. The Black Country Consortium has
responsibility for local economic development and Delma has had a
leading role in developing a regional approach to evaluating activities
included in the strategic economic plan for the new West Midlands
Combined Authority. Delma’s session set out the challenges faced by the
recently established Authority and the evaluation framework that she
helped to develop to assess the Authority’s activities in terms of social,
economic, fiscal and environmental impacts and the development of the
dynamic economic impact model for selecting and assessing potential
areas for intervention.

CECAN: COMPLEXITY IN EVALUATION

Speaker: Helen Wilkinson, Risk Solutions. Member of the Executive Group of CECAN
Chair: Dr Tracey Wond, University of Derby

The Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) is
jointly funded by the ESRC, NERC, DEFRA, BEIS, Environment Agency and
Food Agency to develop evaluation methodologies that consider
complexity resulting from interactions between food, energy, water and
environment systems. CECAN is a virtual centre supporting collaboration
between academic centres and consultancies, and regularly provides
training events and seminars to the wider evaluation community. Helen
was invited to describe the work of the Centre and outline how network
members could draw on the resources CECAN has been developing. Helen
gave an interesting presentation on the use of dependency modelling in
evaluating the Environmental Agency’s flood and coastal erosion
programme.

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 NETWORK UPDATE FEBRUARY 2018 

CITY REDI AND THE WHAT WORKS CENTRE FOR

LOCAL ECONOMIC GROWTH
Speaker: Rebecca Riley, City Regional Economic Development Institute,
University of Birmingham

Rebecca Riley provided our third launch event presentation on City REDI
and the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth. Rebecca is based
in the City Regional Economic Development Institute, established
by the University of Birmingham. City REDI aims ‘to be a world-leading
research institute focussed on international comparative studies of major
city regions, to better understand and influence regional and national
economic growth policies.’ Rebecca gave an overview of analytical work
the Institute had undertaken so far to support the development of the
regional economic strategy, including the skills module for WMCA dynamic
economic model for the West Midlands region and to support the
devolution of responsibilities from Westminster to the new regional
combined authority. City REDI is keen to support the development of the
analytical capabilities in the region having held events such as the Analyst
fest that provided a forum for regional analytical networks to share
experiences and issues.

NETWORK SURVEY: ANALYSIS

Presenter: Karl King, Winning Moves

Our Network Convenor, Karl King presented an analysis of responses to the network's joining
survey (so far!). There was also opportunity to discuss next steps for the network.

A reasonably good response to the survey had been received to date. Almost half of those
completing the survey were from academia and around two thirds were involved in
designing and delivery evaluation studies. A third reported they provided training in
evaluation.

The four most popular topics for future events were Realist Evaluation, Qualitative
Comparative Analysis, Theory Development and Logic Modelling, and Impact Evaluation.

Encouragingly, there were a good number of individuals interested in contributing to the

network as steering group members, and by hosting events, providing training
and offering peer support to fellow network members. We very much welcome these offers
and look forward to these developments.

Please keep sharing the survey with organisations and individuals you think would be
interested in, and may benefit from, the Midlands Regional
Network: https://www.research.net/r/UKES-MRN-joining-survey
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NETWORK UPDATE FEBRUARY 2018 

OPPORTUNITY
West Midlands Combined Authority - Evaluation Advisory Panel

The West Midlands Combined Authority is committed to using robust evaluation to learn from its
economic and social policy innovations. Following a roundtable with local academics early last year,
the WMCA Board adopted a formal Policy Research Plan and approach to evaluation (see
https://governance.wmca.org.uk/documents/s287/Appendix.pdf ).

The WMCA now wants to set up a formal Evaluation Advisory Panel, with the first meeting in March.
Local academics have been invited to express interest in these voluntary roles, however the CA
would also be interested in hearing from private sector colleagues with expertise in evaluation.

The WMCA is committed to ensuring that its strategic decisions are informed by evidence. Effective
research and intelligence helps to improve outcomes by informing debates, exploring options and
evaluating new ways of working. Our strategic vision for research and intelligence is: “to create
actionable insight supporting improved outcomes for WM residents, by informing WMCA decision
making”.
The WMCA Board agreed to establish a formal academic panel to advise WMCA on evaluations and in
particular to:
- review draft evaluation plans to ensure a robust approach to methodology and ethical approval;
- review draft evaluation reports in terms of the appropriate interpretation of results, and
- quality assure final evaluation reports.

Evaluation
The Panel will meet Events
on an ad hoc basis, depending on the needs of the WMCA Policy Research Plan,
starting in March 2018. Agenda papers will be sent out at least one week prior to the date of the
meeting. Action notes from each steering group will be completed. Consistency of representation is
required and members will be required to agree to a code of conduct, including confidentiality.
Involvement in the Panel is unpaid and is anticipated to require approximately five days’ work per
year.

Expressions of interest should be submitted by 22nd February 2018 by completing the on-line form
here: http://snapsurveys.wmca.org.uk/snapwebhost/s.asp?k=151550514519

We anticipate the panel will have around eight members, so it may not be possible to accept all
applicants at this stage.

Further information is available from Jason Lowther (Jason.lowther@wmca.org.uk)

Don't forget! External Event:

The UKES Annual Conference poster
deadline is 17th April 2018.
Conference registration is open for the
UKES Annual Evaluation Conference
which will be held on the 2-3 May 2018.
More can be found
at: http://bit.ly/ukes2018
Methods for Change are holding a workshop in London
on 19th February 2018 that provides an introduction the
fundamentals of evaluating Public Engagement and
Science Communication. You will learn how to design
your evaluation to collect the right information when
evaluating your project, programme or activity. Methods
for Change also provide an online course in evaluating
public engagement.
https://www.methodsforchange.org

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NETWORK UPDATE FEBRUARY 2018 

OUR NEXT NETWORK EVENT

Evaluation Exchange
Let's get real! Putting Realist Evaluation into practice

4.00pm to 6.00pm (registration from 3:30pm)

Tuesday 6th March 2018
Ground floor, Baskerville House, 2 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 2ND (next to the library)
Book via: http://bit.ly/ukesreal

The UKES Midlands Regional Network is pleased to invite you to our first event of 2018 – an
evaluation exchange on putting the philosophy and principles of Realist Evaluation into practice.
There has been increasing interest in realist evaluation in recent years as evaluators and
evaluation commissioners seek to go beyond the question of whether a
policy/programme/project works in general, towards a richer understanding of what works, for
whom, in what circumstances, in what respects and how. But we know from our own experience
and feedback from members that applying the philosophy and principles in practice can be
deceptively challenging.

Evaluation Events
This is an opportunity for members of the network and other interested parties to share their
experiences of designing and implementing realist evaluations – an opportunity to discuss
challenges people have experienced/are continuing to experience in putting realist evaluation
into practice, and to share knowledge and ideas about how those challenges can be overcome.

The event is FREE, though booking and confirmation of booking are essential for all as places are
limited and reception will need to be notified. Book via Eventbrite: http://bit.ly/ukesreal. This
will be an interactive session to discuss and debate issues and challenges YOU want to discuss.

We hope to see you there!

About Evaluation Exchanges

The evaluation exchange on Realist Evaluation will be the first of what we hope will become an
ongoing series of evaluation exchanges that give network members and other interested parties
opportunity to:
- Discuss current evaluation concerns;
- Have free-wheeling debates with other evaluators;
- Share evaluation knowledge;
- Access professional experience and expert advice; and
- Network with evaluators engaged in a wide variety of sectors with responsibility for evaluation.

The purpose of evaluation exchanges is to:

- Help you rethink evaluation issues, problems and solutions;
- Relieve “evaluation anxiety” through a better understanding of the constraints faced by evaluators,
commissioners, programme managers and beneficiaries; and
- Reduce isolation for freelance evaluators and practitioners who work alone.

If you have ideas or suggestions for themes for future evaluation exchanges, or if there are particular
challenges you would like to discuss with others in the network, please share these with our Network
Convener, Karl King (karlk@winningmoves.com), or another member of the steering group.
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