Veranstaltungsprogramm

Global crises, the erosion of evidence-based policy, and rapid technological change—particularly through artificial intelligence—are fundamentally changing the framework for evaluation. Evaluators face growing demands: their skills must become more diverse, their roles more flexible, and their actions more strategic. What does this mean for the profession itself?

The keynote address will examine key aspects of what professionalization is actually aimed at in light of radical societal changes, and the (new) conditions and limitations of professional evaluation. It will also focus on key structural challenges—in particular, the decline in continuing education opportunities in the field of evaluation, as well as the reduction of evaluation positions in institutions in some European countries that were once considered pioneers in the institutionalization of evaluation. Thus, while the demands on evaluators are steadily increasing, institutional training opportunities and the number of professionally established positions are simultaneously shrinking—a tension that threatens sustainable professionalization.

Based on empirical findings and practical examples, we will discuss how professionalism is shaped in this field of tension – and what implications this has or could have for the further development of the field. The invitation is to rethink one's own role as evaluators and to actively shape the profession – as a learning, adaptive, and effective community.