UK Evaluation Society

The UK Evaluation Society (UKES) was founded in 1994 and is the principle professional organisation for evaluation of social policy and programmes in the UK. ^{[1] [2] [3]} It is a member of the UK Academy of Social Sciences. ^[4] Its president is Dr Kirstine Szifris (December 2023 until November 2026) ^{[5] [6]} and Executive Director is Nick Posford. ^[7] UKES was registered as a charity on 27 November 2024. ^[8]

Activities

• Developed a Manifesto for Evaluation, coinciding with the 2024 United Kingdom general election. ^[9]
• Organises an annual conference, which in 2023 was sponsored by RSM UK and Kantar Public (now Verian). ^{[10] [11]} In 2023, keynote speakers were Emily Gates (Boston College), Kelly Beaver MBE (Ipsos), Urvashi Parashar (Department for Culture, Media and Sport), and Nigel Ball (Social Purpose Lab) at University of the Arts London).
• Develops guidance for conducting evaluations, for example Guidelines for Good Practice in Evaluation (revised 2018) ^[12] and Quality of Evidence Rubrics for Single Cases (2023). ^[13]
• Offers training course on evaluation, which are recommended by the UK government for civil servants. ^[14]
• Provides peer review for the UK government Magenta Book, the HM Treasury guidance on key considerations when conducting evaluations of public policies and programmes, which was last updated 2020. ^[15] Also acts as a specialist network, which government draws on when developing evaluation approaches. ^[16]
• Publishes a journal, Evaluative Practice. ^[17]
• Offers prizes, in 2023 for Data Analytics in Evaluation; impact and efforts of Early Career Evaluators; and novel and Innovative Methods. The prizes were sponsored by RSM UK and Ipsos UK.

Membership

The most recent membership figures (up to June 2022) are presented in the table below. ^[18]

UKES membership figures

	26 May 2020	26 May 2021	22 June 2022
Individual members	117	183	206
Student members	1	14	13
Institutional members (org)	22	33	40
Total number of members	247	642	930

External links

• UKES official website

References

1. Love, A. J., Leeuw, F. L., & Kordes, F. G. (1995). International Evaluation Conference. Evaluation, 1(1), 119-125.
2. Wond, T. (2020). United Kingdom. In R. Stockmann, W. Meyer, & L. Taube (Eds.), The Institutionalisation of Evaluation in Europe (pp. 249–269). Springer International Publishing.
3. UKES is listed under major professional organizations in a highly cited text on evaluation by Peter H. Rossi, Mark W. Lipsey, Howard E Freeman (2003). Evaluation: A Systematic Approach (7th edition). SAGE Publications.
4. Sciences, Academy of Social. "Societies". Academy of Social Sciences. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
5. "President-Elect: Dr Kirstine Szifris". UK Evaluation Society. 7 November 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
6. "Dr Kirstine Szifris | SHiFT". shiftuk.org. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
7. "New Executive Director". UK Evaluation Society. February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
8. "THE UK EVALUATION SOCIETY (UKES) - Charity 1211138". prd-ds-register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
9. "A Manifesto for Evaluation" . Retrieved 5 July 2024.
10. "UK Evaluation Society 2023 Annual Conference". UK Evaluation Society. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
11. "Sponsors & Supporters". UK Evaluation Society. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
12. UK Evaluation Society (2018). Guidelines for Good Practice in Evaluation.
13. UK Evaluation Society (2023). Quality of Evidence Rubrics for Single Cases.
14. Evaluation Task Force and Modernisation and Reform (2022, July 4), Evaluation training courses
15. HM Treasury (2020). The Magenta Book.
16. Department for Business and Trade (2023). Driving our performance: DBT’s monitoring and evaluation strategy 2023 to 2026 (web version).
17. Evaluative Practice (formerly known as The Evaluator).
18. "UKES Annual Report 2022" (PDF). Retrieved 23 January 2024.