Keynote speakers

Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead

Professor of Evaluation, University of Connecticut, USA

Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead is a Professor of Evaluation at the University of Connecticut, where she also directs the Partnership for Evaluation and Educational Research (PEER) lab. She is currently the Co-Editor-in-Chief of New Directions for Evaluation. She has served as a Board Member of the American Evaluation Association, and co-founded and Chaired the EvalYouth Global Network. Bianca’s research describes what is distinct about evaluation and the work evaluators do. One arm focuses on the boundaries between evaluation and other professions, and the translation of evaluation approaches to practice. A second arm focuses on how we teach others to “think” and “act” like evaluators and to exercise the types of judgment evaluation practice demands. A third arm centers on improving the tools we use in practice, with a recent focus on artificial intelligence. In 2020, Bianca began using open science practices to get her evaluation scholarship out from behind paywalls and into the hands of evaluation practitioners, managers, and commissioners. Bianca’s publications include special issues of evaluation journals, chapters, educational resources for teaching evaluation, evaluation-specific checklists, an R workbook, and several dozen journal articles and evaluation reports. She has led several multi-year process and impact evaluations guided by different evaluation approaches and that used quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. In addition to her university teaching, she has facilitated evaluation workshops in several countries, including Canada, Cote d’Ivoire, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, and Mexico.

Andi Fugard

Senior Director, Quantitative Impact Evaluation, Verian Group, UK

With over 15 years of experience in social science and evaluation, Dr Andi Fugard has led impact evaluations funded by UK government departments (e.g., Ministry of Justice, Department for Transport, and Home Office) and What Works Centres (e.g., Education Endowment Foundation, Youth Endowment Fund, and Foundations). Andi also has more than 40 publications on topics such as mental health treatment outcomes, language processing, psychology of reasoning, and research methodology. Previously, Andi co-directed Evaluation at the UK’s National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), held academic positions at University College London and Birkbeck, University of London, and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Salzburg. Andi holds a PhD in cognitive science from the University of Edinburgh. They are a member of the UK Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel (ETAP), which advises government on evaluation methods.

Angie Abdilla

Professor, School of Cybernetics, The Australian National University and Founder / Director of Old Ways, New

Professor Angie Abdilla is a palawa woman and is the founder and director of Old Ways, New. In her various roles as a strategic designer, creative practitioner, and consultant, Angie advocates for Indigenous peoples, knowledges and knowledge systems as foundational to technology automation through design and cultural practice. Her published research interrogates the praxis of Indigenous deeptime technologies and Artificial Intelligence, which continue to be informed by the Indigenous Protocols and AI working group (IP//AI), which she co-founded. As a creative practitioner, she works across film and video installation as an exhibiting artist. She created the company’s strategic design methodology, Country Centered Design, leading projects for the public and private sectors over the past decade. Angie continues to advise on the cultural and ethical affordances of automated systems and technologies internationally and locally.

Ray Lovett

Professor, Mayi Kuwayu Study, Yardhura Walani Centre, The Australian National University

Professor Ray Lovett is an Aboriginal (Ngiyampaa/Wongaibon) Australian social epidemiologist with extensive experience in health services research, large scale data analysis for public health policy development and evaluation. Ray leads Mayi Kuwayu, the National Study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing and is an Executive member of the Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Collective in Australia and an Executive member of the Global Indigenous Data Alliance who created the Care principles in response to FAIR.

Bobby Maher

Researcher, The Australian National University

Bobby Maher is an Aboriginal woman (Yamatji, Noongar, Kija). Bobby brings expertise in developing Indigenist approaches to evaluation, and curriculum development relating to Indigenist evaluation and Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov). Bobby’s practice includes Indigenist evaluation and methodology, social epidemiology methods including validation of psychometric tools, systems thinking and community-based participatory research.

Bobby is a member of the Australian Indigenous Data Sovereignty collective, Maiam nayri Wingara, and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance collective. She has experience in operationalising theoretical frameworks and principles relating to Indigenous Data Governance and has also written extensively on IDSov in Australia. Additionally, Bobby works collaboratively with international Indigenous leaders, scholars and activists on IDSov, including developing and facilitating a Masterclass in IDSov at the 2024 International Indigenous Research Conference and planning the 2025 Global Indigenous Data Sovereignty Conference.