CEDIL conference 2022 Programme

The Centre of Excellence for Development Impact and Learning (CEDIL) 2022 conference:   Strengthening evidence use during the pandemic and beyond

Tuesday 22 – Friday 25 March Register here: cedil2022.eventbrite.co.uk

Join the conversation: #CEDIL22

About the conference

Programme

Tuesday 22nd March 2022

Opening plenary session: Promoting evidence use during a crisis

12.00 GMT

Welcome & Tune In

Chair: Dr. David S. Ameyaw, Chair of CEDIL advisory board

12.10 GMT

Keynote Speaker: Professor Adnan Khan, Chief Economist Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

12.30 GMT

Panel session – Promoting evidence use during a crisis

Moderator: Dr. David S. Ameyaw, Chair of CEDIL advisory board

This session will focus on sharing learning about generating, promoting and using evidence during a crisis. It will reflect the viewpoints of evidence producers, brokers and users. During the session, we will explore several questions, including:

  • How can decision-makers be provided with rapid access to high quality evidence to inform policy responses during a crisis?
  • What approaches have worked or not worked?
  • How can evidence be used to make complex decisions and assess trade when there are high levels of uncertainty?
  • How have we overcome challenges in data collection and evidence generation?
  • What have we learned about drawing from both global and local evidence to make decisions?

 

Harsha Dayal, Director, Research & Knowledge Management, Department of Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation, Presidency of South Africa

Timothy Lubanga, Commissioner, Monitoring & Evaluation Office of the Prime Minister, Uganda

Dr. John Lavis, Director, McMaster Health Forum

Dr. Howard White, Research Director, CEDIL

Dr. Sheetal Silal, Director, Modelling and Simulation Hub Africa & Associate Professor in the Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Cape Town

13:50 – 14:00 GMT

Chair’s Closing Comments & Wrap Up

 

Wednesday 23rd March 2022

Maintaining learning during the pandemic

12.00 GMT

Welcome & Tune In

Chair: Dr Marie Gaarder, Executive Director, 3ie

12.10 GMT

Panel session – Maintaining learning during the pandemic
Moderator: Dr Marie Gaarder, Executive Director, 3ie

COVID-19 has disrupted schooling, caused severe learning losses and exacerbated inequalities across the world.

This session will focus on how to maximize the effectiveness of learning in the context of the pandemic and consider what evidence we need for informing decision-making.

Our panel of experts will discuss several questions, including:

  • What is being done and what else should be done to cope with, and recover from, the impact of the pandemic on schooling and learning?
  • What kind of evidence do we need to address these questions?
  • How can evidence on effective education responses be made more relevant and accessible during a crisis?
  • How have we overcome challenges in data collection and evidence generation?
  • What have we learned about drawing from both global and local evidence to make decisions?

 

Dr Noam Angrist, Executive Director, Youth Impact, Botswana

Dr Shwetlena Sabarwal, Senior Economist, Education Global Practice, The World Bank

Sally Gear, Head of Profession, Education, Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office

Dr Pooja Reddy Nakamura, Principal Researcher, International Development Division, American Institute for Research

Siddesh Mhatre, Co-Head, MME and Lead Operations, Direct Elementary Programs, Pratham Education Foundation

 

13:20 – 13:30 GMT

Chair’s Closing Comments & Wrap Up

 

Thursday 24th March 2022

Innovations in machine learning and big data

12.00 GMT

Welcome & Tune In

Chair: Edoardo Masset, Deputy Director, CEDIL

12.10 GMT

Panel session – Innovations in machine learning and big data
Moderator: Edoardo Masset, Deputy Director, CEDIL

Machine learning methods and the use of big data have opened new opportunities to researchers and evaluators. With data collection in the field becoming more challenging during the pandemic, these innovations have become even more relevant. A major area of research is the intersection between causal inference as practised in statistics, epidemiology and economics, and innovations in computational methods developed in computer science.

Speakers will discuss various questions, including:

  • What kind of contribution can computational methods and access to large datasets make to the evaluation of interventions?
  • What is the value of these methods to evidence users and commissioners of studies?
  • How can these methods be used to analyse heterogeneity of impacts?
  • How can we extrapolate results to new contexts?

 

Alessandra Garbero, Lead Regional Economist, International Fund for Agricultural Development

Dr Ghassan Baliki, Programme Director, Welfare, International Security & Development Centre, Germany

Prof. Karla Diaz-Ordaz, Professor of Biostatistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Prof. James Thomas, Professor of Social Research & Policy, University College London

Paul Jasper, Data Innovation Lead, Oxford Policy Management

 

13:20 – 13:30 GMT

Chair’s Closing Comments & Wrap Up

 

Friday 25th March 2022

Transferring evidence between contexts

12.00 GMT

Welcome & Tune In

Chair: Dr. Howard White, Research Director, CEDIL

12.10 GMT

Panel session – Transferring evidence between contexts
Moderator: Dr. Howard White, Research Director, CEDIL

The demand for evidence is growing. But there are many gaps in evidence for specific interventions or for specific contexts. How can we assess and facilitate the transferability of evidence across interventions and between contexts?

Findings from single studies may not apply to other contexts. In recent years, a range of research and evaluation methods and approaches have been proposed to support the transferability of findings between interventions and contexts, and to use systematic reviews to explore programme design features and contextual factors which may moderate programme effects. 

  • Under what conditions or circumstances might a finding from a single study be transferable to another setting? What examples are there of such transferability (or of inappropriate transfer?)
  • What methods or tools may be used to assess and facility transferability of study findings?
  • How might systematic reviews provide findings relevant to the contexts in which an intervention will or won’t work, or how it may be adapted to do so?
  • What lessons may have been learned from previous pandemics to inform the Covid response, and were these lessons properly utilized? Have we learned lessons from Covid for future pandemic preparedness?

 

Professor Chris Bonell, Professor of Public Health Sociology and Head of Department of Social & Environmental Health Research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Board Member of UK’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), United Kingdom

Sheree (Bennett) Kullenberg, Senior Advisor, Research & Evidence, International Rescue Committee, Germany

Dr Annette Brown, Principal Economist and Acting Head of Strategy FHI 360

Dr Patrick Okwen, Team Lead eBASE Africa, Cameroon

13:20 – 13:30 GMT

Chair’s Closing Comments & Wrap Up