Day 1 Agenda
8:30 REGISTRATION, COFFEE AND NETWORKING
9:00 WELCOMING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR
Professor Brian Head
Policy Analysis Program,
Institute for Social Science Research
The University of Queensland
DRIVING INNOVATIVE POLICY REFORM THROUGH EVIDENCE
9:10 SPECIAL ADDRESS: HELPING EVIDENCE INFORM POLICY: THE NEED FOR ECLECTIC APPROACHES
Re-evaluating long-established policies where data was
unavailable and addressing new topics that are intrinsically
uncertain and not readily amendable to quantitive analysis
• How has the Productivity Commission proceeded
in such circumstances? Are there general lessons
to be drawn?
• How can the groundwork be laid today for better
use of evidence tomorrow?
Terry O’Brien
First Assistant Commissioner
Productivity Commission
9:50 SPECIAL ADDRESS:
CASE STUDY: A WHOLE-OFGOVERNMENT
APPROACH TO EBP
• How FAHCSIA have implemented an eBP approach
to initiatives and processes
Ms Serena Wilson
Deputy Secretary
Department of Families, Housing, Community Services
and Indigenous Affairs
10:30 THE ROLE OF EVIDENCE IN POLICY INNOVATION
• Why we need to move from a risk management
to an uncertainty management paradigm
• Articulating the relationships between theory
and evidence in policy innovation
• Implications for science and innovation policy and
the use of external scientific expertise by government
Dr Mark Mathews
Director - Policy and Engagement
Centre for Policy Innovation
Australian National University
11:10 MORNING TEA AND NETWORKING
WHEN AND HOW TO UTILISE EVIDENCE
11:40 BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS:
THE VALUE OF EBP
• Why evidence influences but does not determine policy
• Sources of policy-relevant evidence
• Applying EBP analysis to actual problem areas
• Investment in evidence bases and evaluation capacity
Professor Brian Head
Policy Analysis Program
Institute for Social Science Research
The University of Queensland
12:20 PUTTING THE EVIDENCE INTO EBP: MAXIMISING
THE VALUE OF STATISTICS
• The importance of statistical quality
• The misuse of statistics, and avoiding this
• How the ABS can help policy makers
Peter Harper
Deputy Australian Statistician
Population, Labour, Industry and Environment Statistics Group
Australian Bureau of Statistics
1:00 LUNCH
2:00 LEARNING FROM THE EVIDENCE ABOUT EBP
• What counts as credible evidence of effectiveness?
• Combining evidence from multiple studies
Patricia Rogers
Professor of Public Sector Evaluation
CIRCLE, Centre for Applied Social Research
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
2:40 WHAT THE PUBLIC THINK ABOUT YOU AND
YOUR POLICIES
• Managing the discord that often exists between the position of interest groups, who seek to represent the public, and the public themselves
• Ensuring the right policy barometers
Dr Craig Cormick
Manager, Public Awareness and Engagement, Future Technologies
Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
3:20 AFTERNOON TEA AND NETWORKING
3:50 IMPROVING SERVICE DELIVERY AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EVIDENCE
• Illustrating improvements in indigenous circumstances
around evidence based initiatives
• Re-directing research away from problem analysis
and towards successful initiatives for future policies
Craig James
General Manager for Commercialisation
and Communication
Desert Knowledge CRC
4:30 CASE STUDY DRIVING AN EVIDENCE-INFORMED
POLICY AGENDA – WHAT IT TAKES
• Developing agencies as a receptor site for research
• Implementing systems and tools to support the generation and use of evidence in everyday decision making
• Showcasing strategies used to create evidenceinformed health public policy in Victoria
Dr Shelley Bowen
Senior Public Health Advisor
Public Health Branch
Department of Human Services, VIC
5:10 CLOSING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR
