CECAN team members have been providing expert input in the current evaluation work being conducted by BEIS and contractors on the Contracts for Difference policy.
past event
CECAN Case Study with the Environment Agency: Enforcement on Waste Crime
CECAN team members have been providing expert advice and guidance to members of the Environment Agency’s Evidence, Assessment and Evaluation team
CECAN Case Study with DEFRA: Rural Development Programme for England
On 19th July CECAN held the first of two joint and linked workshops with DEFRA.
CECAN PhD Researcher Attends CIED Summer School
CECAN PhD Researcher, Anna Kaxira, from the Policy Studies Institute at the University of Westminster, recently attend the CIED Summer School.
CECAN Partner Professor Liz Varga Attends M2D 2017 Annual Conference
CECAN partner Professor Liz Varga of Cranfield University, recently attended the M2D 2017 Annual Conference on Decision Making Under Uncertainty.
Joanna Boehnert Joins as a CECAN Fellow
We are pleased to introduce a new member of the CECAN team. Joanna Boehnert joins us as a CECAN Fellow.
Models as ‘Interested Amateurs’
Pete Barbrook-Johnson, Research Fellow at the Policy Studies Institute at the University of Westminster & Knowledge Integrator Research Fellow at the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) at the University of Surrey.
CECAN Seminar: The Use of Dependency Modelling to Support Evaluation in Complex Environments
CECAN hosted a seminar at BEIS on 11th July, with Helen Wilkinson of Risk Solutions and Harry Walton.
CECAN Seminar: Learning Lessons from Practical Policy Evaluation: Reflecting on a Meta-Evaluation of UK/EU Policy and Practice Evaluations Across the Nexus
CECAN recently held a seminar with Clare Twigger-Ross and Owen White from Collingwood Environmental Planning.
Taking The Temperature of Trust
It is over two years since Ofwat set increasing trust in water as its key objective for its 2015 five year business plan.To establish what has happened since, I interviewed 19 senior and influential figures across all parts of the water sector. I am seeking wider perspectives via a survey (click HERE to participate) and hope this article will stimulate you to take part.
CECAN Seminar: The Use of Dependency Modelling to Support Evaluation in Complex Environments
The ‘theory of change’ evaluation strategy (described in the Magenta book) was developed to help tackle evaluation of complex multi-level, multi-intervention initiatives.
CECAN Short Course: COMPLEX-IT and the SACS Toolkit: A Case-Based Computational Modeling Platform for Data Mining Complex Issues in Policy and Evaluation
The complex socio-technical arenas (nexus issues) that government seeks to improve (e.g. health, food, water, safety, infrastructure) are not driven by a single factor or consequence.
CECAN Attend UK Evaluation Society Conference
CECAN exhibited at the UKES Conference on 10th-11th May with the primary goal of making strong connections in the evaluation community.
CECAN Seminar: Theory of Change
CECAN hosted a seminar on Theory of Change and how best to design one, at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 16th May.
CECAN Seminar: Supporting Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty
CECAN would like to extend thanks to Jan Kwakkel who took time out of his busy schedule to deliver a seminar to a large group of civil servants working in nexus policy areas.
CECAN Webinar: The “Context+Mechanism” Association: Mastering a Key Heuristic in Realist Evaluation for Innovating Complex Programmes and Policy
This webinar is the second part of a series on Realist Methodology for the Centre for Evaluation of Complexity across the Nexus.
CECAN Seminar: Learning Lessons from Practical Policy Evaluation – Reflecting on a Meta-Evaluation of UK/EU Policy and Practice Evaluations Across the Nexus
Numerous evaluations of natural environment policy and practice are commissioned by the UK and EU government in order to inform, develop and improve.
CECAN Webinar: Choosing Appropriate Evaluation Methods – A Tool for Assessment and Selection
The range of methods available to produce useful, credible and rigorous evidence in evaluation is growing but selecting the right method or combination of methods can be difficult.
CECAN Seminar: An Introduction to Theory of Change and How to Design One
Theory of Change (TOC) is not a novel evaluation tool in itself. As a member of a family of theory based approaches to outcome evaluation it has become a key approach to assessing the outcomes of complex interventions where implementation strands are multiple, causal paths are not straightforward and feedback loops do not lend themselves to a linear cause-effect analysis.
CECAN Seminar: Supporting Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty – On Adaptive Plans and Exploratory Modeling
Decision making on complex systems requires coming to grips with irreducible uncertainty. In the literature, there is an emerging consensus that any decision regarding a complex system should be robust with respect to the various uncertainties. A plan is robust if its expected performance is only weakly affected by deep uncertainty.
One Researcher’s Anecdote is Another Researcher’s Data
A couple of days ago, a DEFRA policy official told me that the uncertainty over EU exit was creating a fertile environment for evaluation, as champions try to ensure their favoured policies have a place in the forthcoming landscape, post Brexit. This struck me as interesting, and I made a note of it.
Learning Lessons From Past Interventions – Collingwood Environmental Planning
CEP over the last 10 years (2006-2016) has undertaken an extensive range of evaluations in the natural environment arena
Addressing Complexity in Nexus Issues – A Case Based Approach
The CECAN team would like to extend thanks to Professor Brian Castellani for his engaging discussions on case-based approaches to addressing complexity in nexus issues at his seminar on 23rd February 2017.
That Way Lies Prosperity: Sustainability and the Nexus
Sustainable Development and its relative Sustainability, concepts which have a rich history of appeal and animosity, have nevertheless become the dominant conversation framing environment-development policy in recent decades.
CECAN Seminar: Dynamic Pattern Synthesis (DPS) – A Mixed Method for Exploring Longitudinal Patterns in Social Science Data
Dynamic Pattern Synthesis (DPS) is a new mixed method designed by Philip Haynes that seeks to maximise the advantages of Cluster Analysis and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to search for dynamic patterns in data.
What Works at the Nexus? A Thought Provoking Seminar from Professor James Wilsdon
The CECAN team would like to extend thanks to Professor James Wilsdon from the University of Sheffield for his discussions on ‘What works at the Nexus’ on 25th January 2017.
CECAN Conference: Sustainability in Turbulent Times
These are turbulent times in which to advance sustainable development. Environmental and social challenges, encapsulated in the United Nation’s Global Goals, are as pressing as ever, but the political, regulatory and funding landscape is changing rapidly, creating new uncertainties and opportunities.
CECAN Webinar: Realist Methodology for Complexity-Mindful Evaluations in the Food, Energy, Water and Climate Sectors
Many approaches to addressing complexity in evaluation design are burgeoning. In part this is in response to the inadequacy of ‘complexity-thin’ approaches to supporting solutions to entrenched and evolving problems. A second factor is witnessing new complex problems emerging with radical changes in society and sectors.
CECAN Seminar: Addressing Complexity in Nexus Issues – A Case-Based Approach to Evaluation Research
Drawing upon two recent studies – one on health trajectories and the other on grid reliability – Brian will demonstrate how evaluation researchers can use case-based complexity to more effectively model nexus issues across time/space.
CECAN Short Course: Getting to Grips with Wicked Issues Using Exploratory Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
At the end of this course you should be able to: Understand the value of systematic comparison as a way of exploring multiple and complex causation, be able to start using binary QCA as a mode of exploration of appropriate information / data and know the character of the various forms of QCA and be able to assess their value to you in confronting problems in causation and evaluation.