"The Detective Work of Evaluation: Notes from the Field": Faculty Inaugural Lecture by Prof. Ana Manzano

Join us for the twelfth Faculty of Social Sciences Inaugural Lecture!

We are delighted to announce that the fourth lecture in the 2025-26 Faculty of Social Sciences Inaugural Lecture Series will be given by Professor Ana Manzano (School of Sociology and Social Policy).

Ana is a Professor of Public Policy Evaluation and Editor-in-Chief of Evaluation and Program Planning. She has led and contributed to interdisciplinary research in the UK, Spain, Nigeria, Ghana, and Vietnam, applying advanced theory-driven evaluation methodologies to examine key issues in social and health policy, including treatment decision-making in long-term conditions; evaluations of child and maternal health policies; financial incentives and sanctions in healthcare utilisation and planning; and organ donation and organ trafficking policies.

She also has recognised expertise in evaluation standards for research and government and is part of the internationally recognised academic team that developed reporting and quality standards for theory-driven realist evaluation.

The lecture

Title: The Detective Work of Evaluation: Notes from the Field

Abstract:

Public policy and programme evaluation are often presented as a technical exercise, a matter of methods and metrics. Yet in practice, evaluation is closer to detective work: piecing together partial evidence, interrogating assumptions, uncovering hidden mechanisms and asking not only what works, but for whom, how, and why. In this inaugural lecture, Professor Manzano reflects on her academic journey as a methodologist and an expert in theory-driven evaluation, often working as the only social scientist in interdisciplinary teams. Tracing her work across health and social policy settings in the UK, Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia, she explores how realist and theory-driven evaluation approaches have been applied to complex policy areas, such as financial incentives and sanctions and healthcare utilisation. Professor Manzano also discusses her contribution to strengthening evaluation standards and institutional learning, including her role in developing internationally recognised reporting and quality standards for realist evaluation; the development of specific realist data collection methods, such as the realist qualitative interview and realist focus groups; and her recent work within the Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland), where she has helped co-produce the department’s first Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy.

We would like to welcome everyone – be they colleagues, postgraduate researchers, students, alumni or visitors – to this lecture celebrating the achievement and scholarship contributions of Professor Manzano.

The lecture will take place on Wednesday 4 February 2026 at 16:00 in Liberty Building (Moot Court) LT (1.28) on the Western University of Leeds campus. The lecture will take place from 16:00-17:00 including introductions and a Q&A session, after which there will be a drinks reception. Registration is free of charge through Ticket Tailor.

If you have any queries about this lecture, or about the series, please direct them via email to Izzy Jenkinson (Faculty Events and Communications Officer) at I.K.S.Jenkinson@leeds.ac.uk.