“We wanted to be able to invite a broad range of people into the evaluation space who may not think of themselves as evaluators, but are doing work that is evaluative.”
Making Space, Valuing Place: A Preview of AES26 in Darwin
Christabelle Darcy & Alison Reedy
About this episode
In this episode, Matt speaks with Christabelle Darcy and Alison Reedy, the co-convenors of the 2026 Australian Evaluation Society Conference in Darwin. Under the theme *Making Space, Valuing Place*, Christabelle and Alison walk us through the four subthemes, the keynote line-up, and what they're most looking forward to when the evaluation community gathers from 14–18 September. It's a thoughtful preview of a conference designed to welcome a broader audience into evaluation conversations — and to honour the context of the Top End.
Key takeaways
Making space is about widening the door
The theme is a deliberate invitation to people who do evaluative work but may not call themselves evaluators — researchers, policy officers, community leaders, and others whose roles include evaluation as part of a wider remit.
Valuing place is about context, authority, and country
With a third of the Northern Territory's population identifying as Indigenous, the theme asks evaluators to think carefully about where they're working, who has authority in those places, and how that should shape their practice.
Four subthemes give different entry points
Traditions and new ways, ethics and integrity, boundaries and bridges, and roots and routes each open up a distinct conversation — from acknowledging failure to staying grounded as evaluators in a post-truth environment.
The keynote line-up spans local and international voices
Robyn Ober opens the conference with her work weaving Indigenous yarning into research and evaluation. She's joined by Lígia Teixeira on systems approaches to homelessness, Bagele Chilisa on Made in Africa evaluation, Selwyn Button on evaluation and policy from the Productivity Commission, and Emily Gates closing with ethical reflexivity in systemic change.
A smaller conference invites more cross-pollination
Darwin's scale and setting encourage attendees to step outside their usual silos, sit in sessions they wouldn't normally choose, and have their thinking stretched — the kind of unexpected encounters that bigger conferences can wash out.
Topics covered
- AES 2026 Conference
- Australian Evaluation Society
- Place-based evaluation
- Indigenous evaluation
- Evaluation community
- Ethics in evaluation
- Conference preview