Kick Off 2025 Recap!

A New Chapter for Engagement and Collaboration

On February 27, 2025, the Lancaster Evaluation Group (LEG) community gathered for our kick-off meeting to set the stage for the year ahead. With a focus on relaunching the seminar series, expanding community engagement, and exploring new opportunities for collaboration, the session was packed with insightful discussions and innovative ideas.

Here are the key takeaways:

Relaunching the Seminar Series

The LEG seminar series is making a comeback! Recognising its value as a hub for sharing knowledge and fostering connections, we’re bringing it back with a flexible format to suit diverse needs.

• Sessions will be primarily online for accessibility, though hybrid options are under consideration.
• Feedback from the session stated a preference for a varied format, including traditional presentations, Q&As, interactive workshops, and “lightning talks.”
• We’re keen to hear from the community. If you have topic suggestions, speaker recommendations, or ideas for improving the experience, we’d love your input!

Strengthening Community Involvement

A key focus this year is to broaden participation within LEG. We discussed ways to create meaningful roles for members, including:

• Special Interest Groups (SIGs) for focused discussions on particular topics.
• Flexible engagement opportunities to allow members to contribute at their own pace.
• Mentoring networks to connect researchers and professionals with colleagues at different stages of their careers and different levels of experience in evaluation.

Blogging & Communication

We explored different methods of communication across the LEG community. We now have a new website, LinkedIn group and Microsoft Teams space, which creates new opportunities to connect and share. Discussion focussed particularly on the new blog function of the website and potential challenges that might arise when discussing complex or controversial topics.

The key takeaway was to pursue a balance between academic independence, sharing information and updates from the community, and sharing research topics of common interest. Editorial oversight was something deemed crucial to explore. We welcome contributions but will ensure a vetting process is in place (including potentially a code of practice).

Evaluation Facility Collaboration

Amanda Seims and Gemma Coupe from the Evaluation Facility team, which sits within Health Partnerships at Health Innovation One, introduced their work supporting health and care evaluations at Lancaster University. The team is seeking academics and researchers to collaborate on evaluation projects and initiatives. This is a great opportunity to apply expertise from the LEG community. The Evaluation Facility team are hard at work developing a model and strategy for how this might be achieved and shared the progress they had made so far. They will be sure to connect up with LEG in the future to provide further updates of opportunities. Keep your eyes peeled for opportunities!

What’s Next?

• A blog post (yes, this one!) summarising key discussions.
• Further planning on membership roles and SIGs.
• An open call for seminar ideas and potential speakers.
• Continued collaboration with the Evaluation Facility and other groups and networks to connect researchers and practitioners engaged in evaluative research and practice.

We’d love to hear from you! Whether it’s contributing to the seminar series, proposing an idea for a SIG, or sharing your research, let’s make LEG a dynamic and inclusive space in 2025. Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for being part of this journey!