Tom Ling has over 25 years of experience in designing, managing and delivering evaluations. He is a senior research leader at RAND Europe where he is head of evaluation. He leads evaluations and applied research focused on the key challenges facing organisations in health, well-being, and international development. Before re-joining RAND, Ling was head of Impact Innovation and Evidence at Save the Children where his responsibilities included ensuring that evaluations contribute to policy and change in the challenging environment of international development. Prior to Save the Children, Ling spent ten years at RAND Europe as director for Evaluation and Performance Audit following four years as senior research fellow at the National Audit Office in the UK. Before that he taught and researched in various universities.

He has over 20 years’ experience contributing to research projects with the European Commission, Save the Children, UK government departments, the National Audit Office, the Health Foundation in the UK and many others. He has published widely on evaluation, accountability, and related topics. He recently co-edited Performance Audit: Contributing to Accountability in Democratic Government (London: Edward Elgar), following his Performance Audit Handbook and The Evidence Book, a critical examination of the use of evidence in public policy and service delivery. He is a senior research associate with Cambridge University and a Professor (Emeritus) with Anglia Ruskin University.

Tom is also President of the European Evaluation Society (https://europeanevaluation.org/).

Course topics covered

• Evaluation of management processes
  • The uses (and risks) of theories of change
  • Developing together an evaluation and monitoring framework
  • A brief introduction to some core uses of evaluation: accountability; ‘proving something works’; improving what is working; adaptive management

Risks to be aware of when using evaluation