Publications and presentations
Selected publications, presentations, workshops and seminars on evaluation, systems thinking, theory of change and strategy — with references and links for further reading.
- Seminar2025
Panarchy — How do complex systems change and persist over time?
Scally-Irvine, K., Elliott, J., Hawkins, A. and Keogh, B. (2025), AES Systems Special Interest Group, June 2025.
Panarchy as a way of understanding cycles of stability, disruption and renewal in complex systems, and what that implies for systems-informed evaluation.
View — Panarchy — How do complex systems change and persist over time? →
- Conference presentation2025
The Dynamics of Influence: Evaluating Social Power
Keogh, B. and Maloney, J. (2025), Australian Evaluation Society International Conference, Canberra, September 2025.
Practical ways to analyse social power in evaluation — mapping influence, understanding power relations, and assessing whether those relations shift over time.
- Seminar2024
Demystifying Critical Systems Heuristics
Elliott, J., Hawkins, A., Keogh, B. and Scally-Irvine, K. (2024), AES Systems Special Interest Group, February 2024.
Critical Systems Heuristics as a practical way to question assumptions, test boundary choices and examine who is included or excluded in evaluation framing.
- Professional learning workshop2024
Systems Evaluation Theory — Practice & Implementation
Renger, R., Keogh, B. and Atkinson, L. (2024), online workshop, Australian Evaluation Society.
Translating Systems Evaluation Theory into practice, helping evaluators apply systems concepts in concrete evaluation settings.
View — Systems Evaluation Theory — Practice & Implementation →
- Pre-conference workshop2023
Changing the Theory of Change?
Keogh, B. and Scally-Irvine, K. (2023), Australian Evaluation Society International Conference, Brisbane, October 2023.
Strengthening theories of change by drawing on wider traditions of change theory, for complex and climate-affected contexts where linear models fall short.
- Conference presentation2019
Applying Systems Evaluation Theory (SET)
Renger, R., Keogh, B. and Atkinson, L. (2019), Australian Evaluation Society International Conference, Sydney, September 2019.
How Systems Evaluation Theory can define system boundaries, identify systemic inefficiencies and generate stronger insights for complex interventions.
- Peer-reviewed article2018
Reworks: a robust system efficiency measure
Renger, R., Keogh, B., Hawkins, A., Foltysova, J. and Souvannasacd, E. (2018) ‘Reworks: a robust system efficiency measure’, Evaluation Journal of Australasia, 18(3), pp. 183–191.
Introduces “reworks” as a system-level efficiency measure grounded in Systems Evaluation Theory, going beyond narrow program outputs to reflect how complex systems actually perform.