Making social sciences useful to society: challenges and practices of programme evaluation

Review

As part of its partnership with Université Paris Cité, the Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Evaluation of Public Policies (LIEPP), in collaboration with the School of Research of Sciences Po, is opening its intersemester course, ‘Making social sciences useful to society: challenges and practices of programme evaluation’, to master’s and doctoral students at Université Paris Cité.
LIEPP is a Sciences Po research platform deployed in partnership with Université Paris Cité. Its aim is to develop the evaluation of public policies through an interdisciplinary scientific approach.

 

No prior training in evaluation methods is required. The course provides a conceptual and practical introduction that draws on different social science traditions. It pays particular attention to the fit between the policy question and the evidence used to answer it, to the assumptions and uncertainty behind empirical claims, and to the fact that evaluation also involves choices about values, criteria and use.

Apply

Program

This intensive course introduces Master’s and PhD students to policy and programme evaluation as a form of applied social science. Evaluation is not treated as a single method. It combines empirical inquiry, judgement and the use of knowledge in order to assess, understand and improve public action. The course asks four linked questions: What does it mean to evaluate a public policy ? How can we know whether it works and why ? Against what criteria should it be judged ? How can evaluation findings be used in public decision making ?

 

Module 1: What does it mean to evaluate a public policy ?
Module 2: How do we know whether a policy works, and why ?
Module 3: What counts as success ? Values, criteria and indicators.
Module 4: From evaluation to policy: how is knowledge actually used ?

Trainer

Dr Cristina Peñasco is a Senior Research Economist at the Centre for Climate and Nature of the Banque de France and an Associate Researcher at the Bennett School for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, where she previously directed the Master in Public Policy. At Sciences Po, she is adjunct professor in policy evaluation and a member of the ‘Environmental Policy’ axe at the Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d’evaluation des politiques publiques (LIEPP). She holds a PhD in Economics and has more than twelve years of experience in public policy research and teaching. Her research focuses on environmental and energy economics, innovation policy, climate policy and the evaluation of public interventions. She has extensive experience teaching methods and evidence based policy to postgraduate students and working at the interface between academic research and policy institutions.

Pratical information

How to register ?

 

-→ Register directly using the LIEPP’s online form before the 6th of december: https://forms.gle/uH8kzY9UbCY44kz59

-→ Apply on AMETHIS. Once your registration is confirmed by the LIEPP, the training’s department will confirm your registration on AMETHIS.

 

For further information about LIEPP, please contact andreana.khristova@sciencespo.fr (secretary general of LIEPP).

 

Catalogue de formation, Développer son regard critique, Doctorat, Sciences & Société

Public

PhD students

Duration

8 hours

Language

English

Format

In person

Code

DF26LIEPPEN