Your occasional update on our network, upcoming events, professional development and the world of impact evaluation
Dear members,
Welcome to our first newsletter for the year. Though we’re well into 2025, we want to wish you all the best for a productive and impactful year ahead.
We have used the last few months to lock in our seminar program for the first half of 2025. Our next seminar will be Missing data in observational studies, coming up on Monday the 28th of April. It will be an opportunity to learn from Professor Margarita Moreno‑Betancur, co‑lead of the Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit (CEBU) at the MCRI and the University of Melbourne. Read on to see our full schedule of seminars, one of them features our first international speaker.
This edition of the newsletter also features some great reads and useful links. Be sure to take a look at the recent report on Randomised trials in Australian public policy, released by The Australian Centre for Evaluation.
We hope to see you all online at the next seminar.
Yours in impactful impact evaluation!
The IEPN Secretariat
Network update
Upcoming IEPN seminars
We have three seminars to come between April and July. Please put these dates in your diary.
Missing data in observational studies with Professor Margarita Moreno‑Betancur
Professor Margarita Moreno‑Betancur will discuss up‑to‑date strategies for dealing with missing data in observational studies.
Details
Date: Monday 28 April
Time: 12 – 1 pm AEST
Location: Microsoft Teams
Professor Moreno‑Betancur is Co‑Director of the Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit (CEBU) at the MCRI and the University of Melbourne. She oversees the statistical support for observational studies and the development of CEBU’s teaching and training program.
Berk Özler, Lead Economist, Development Economics, World Bank
Our first international speaker will be Berk Özler, who will share his expertise on delivering field experiments, drawing on his experience at The World Bank.
Details
Date: Monday 23 June
Time: 2 – 3 pm AEST
Location: Microsoft Teams (link to come)
Berk Özler is Lead Economist in the Poverty, Inequality, and Human Development Program in the Development Research Group
Randomised trials in education and community development with Professor Sally Brinkman
The IEPN welcomes Professor Sally Brinkman to talk about her experience collecting data and running trials with a focus on education and community development.
Details
Date: Monday 28 July
Time: 2 – 3 pm AEST
Location: Microsoft Teams (link to come)
Professor Sally Brinkman is a social epidemiologist with the majority of her research focusing on societies’ impact on child development in multiple countries. Professor Brinkman is well known for spearheading the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC).
Network survey
Thank you to everyone who filled out the network survey. The secretariat is analysing the results and will use your responses to inform network events and activities for the rest of the year. Look out for some results from the survey in future newsletters.
Members collaboration platform
Testing for our new members collaboration platform (Teams group) has concluded. Thanks to the volunteers who helped us test the functionality of the platform and iron out the kinks. We will formally launch the Teams group for all members in the next few weeks. Look out for a separate email with further information and instructions.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Tony Bertoia on tony.bertoia@edresearch.edu.au
Reading and links
Randomised trials in Australian public policy
Today the Australian Centre for Evaluation released a new report, Randomised trials in Australian public policy: a review.
While randomised trials could be used far more often in policymaking in Australia, their use is growing. At the same time, advances are being made in how randomised trials can be conducted in an ethical and cost‑effective way.
This report starts by taking stock of the published randomised policy trials that have been conducted in Australia. This is followed by a series of case studies, illustrating how randomised trials have informed policy decisions across various policy domains. The report then turns to the fundamental question of the ethics and cultural appropriateness of randomised trials. It concludes with a discussion of future directions for randomised policy trials in Australia.
Interesting links
If you find this reading list interesting or you would like to submit something for the next edition, please contact us at evaluation@treasury.gov.au
Recent Developments in Experimental Economics and Field Experiments: Part of the American Economic Association lecture series, Professor John List presents this two‑hour lecture as part of the American Economic Association’s Recent Developments Lectures. Perfect for people who already have some knowledge of experimental design and causal inference that want a summary of the latest theory and scholarship.
The No‑Spin Evidence Review: A new initiative reviewing impact evaluations and summarising “what works” in social spending. In their own words: “We summarize recent program evaluations and explain what the evidence really shows.”
Mean reversion in RCTs: A detailed blog post about the problem of mean reversion when the target for an intervention occupy an extreme location in the overall population distribution. Our upcoming seminar guest, Berk Özler, discusses why this can be a problem and what to do about it.
MAGNET Trial of the Year – The KADS Trial: The Mental Health Australia General Clinical Trails Network have announced The KADS Trial as trial of the year 2024. The trial provided robust evidence for the efficacy and safety of generic ketamine as a treatment for severe depression.
Government administrative data sources for evaluation in Australia: The Australian Centre for Evaluation has released a reference document detailing state and federal government data sources available to researchers and how to access them.