Your occasional update on our network, upcoming events, professional development and the world of impact evaluation
Dear IEPN members,
It is less than two weeks until the first IEPN conference. We have a brilliant line of speakers and some great opportunities to connect with other impact evaluators. Read on to see the full program.
Registrations are open now and the conference is free, so sign up here and tell everyone you know about the conference!
Register here for IEPN Conference 2026
Thank you to everyone who responded to the conference survey in April. Your ideas have helped us to shape the conference. The volunteers on the conference committee have been hard at work to make your dreams for an Australian impact evaluation conference a reality.
See you there!
The IEPN Secretariat
Conference Details
Date: Thursday 20th August, 2026
Time: 10:30 am – 5:00 pm (AEST)
Venue: Online via Microsoft Teams – Register here
Cost: Free for all to attend
The online conference will be followed by in‑person social events in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Canberra. You can indicate your attendance on the registration form.
Conference Program
- 10:30 am | Welcome & IEPN Introduction
Dr Tony Bertoia - 10:35 am | Opening Remarks
Eleanor Williams & Dr Jenny Donovan - 10:50 am | What Does AI Mean for Impact Evaluation?
Dr Alex Gyani - 11:30 am | The Geography of Welfare Reform
Associate Professor Anna Zhu - 12:20 pm | Lessons from RISE
Tammy Small & Dr Jarrod Hughes - 1:00 | Lunch
Optional networking activity: randomised coffees and teas (RCTs) - 1:40 pm | Evidence Aggregation and Uncertainty
Associate Professor Rafe Meager - 2:20 pm | Community‑Led Total Sanitation Trials in Indonesia & Laos
Professor Lisa Cameron - 3:10 pm | Rapid Presentations
Scott Bayley
Cath Jeffrey and Dr Hywel Ellis
Paula Simões
Dr Diana Contreras Suárez
Dr Emily Bourke
Dr Alice Knight - 4:10 pm | Deepening Collaboration Between Government and Academia
Panel Discussion - 4:55 pm | Closing Remarks
Emma Tomkinson - 5:00 pm | Conference Close
Training and Professional Development
Short Course: Working with MBS and PBS data
In September, the Sax Institute is running an online course on how to use Medicare benefits schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical benefits schedule (PBS) data to inform policy decisions.
Over 2 x 3‑hour sessions the course will cover:
- Why analyse MBS and PBS data and the different data cuts available
- What information is captured, and which people are included in the datasets
- Common elements in MBS and PBS data
- What can and cannot be measured using MBS and PBS data
- Peculiarities of the datasets
- How to choose the right codes, people, and study periods
- General advice for analysing MBS and PBS data, analysing aggregate data
- A case study for analysing individual‑level data from multiple datasets
Reading and 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
Why impact evaluations need implementation research: Lelys Dinarte‑Diaz makes a strong case for the pairing of implementation research with randomised trials.
12‑step checklist for a (non‑experimental) causal inference project: Scott Cunningham, provides interesting detail on his use of AI in causal inference research in this post (you’ll need to subscribe to his Substack to see the full post).
A new column on recent econometrics papers that are useful for applied researchers: Paul Goldsmith‑Pinkham has started a new quarterly column summarising recent theoretical papers that are useful for applied researchers. Thanks Paul!
When to do multiple hypothesis testing adjustments: In this article, David Viviano, Kaspar Wuthrich and Paul Nieshous unpack their recent paper on when correcting for multiple hypothesis testing is necessary, and when it isn’t.