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
Programme
Tuesday 22nd March 2022
Opening plenary session: Promoting evidence use during a crisis
Welcome & Tune In
Chair: Dr. David S. Ameyaw, Chair of CEDIL advisory board
Keynote Speaker: Professor Adnan Khan, Chief Economist Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
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
Chair’s Closing Comments & Wrap Up
Wednesday 23rd March 2022
Maintaining learning during the pandemic
Welcome & Tune In
Chair: Dr Marie Gaarder, Executive Director, 3ie
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
Welcome & Tune In
Chair: Edoardo Masset, Deputy Director, CEDIL
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
Welcome & Tune In
Chair: Dr. Howard White, Research Director, CEDIL
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