Celebrating the Poster Award Winners at the UK Evaluation Society Conference 2026
One of the highlights of this year’s conference in Sheffield was our poster exhibition, which showcased innovative evaluation thinking, practice and learning from across sectors.
The quality of submissions was exceptionally high, with posters covering a wide range of sectors, approaches and challenges. Thank you to everyone who took the time to develop and share their work with conference delegates.
We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2026 UK Evaluation Society Poster Awards. This year’s Poster Awards were sponsored by Technopolis.
Cristina Rosemberg, Managing Partner at Technopolis said,
Outstanding Poster Award
You can't change the system without feeding it: the real work of building evaluation culture
Kevin Harris1, John Downey2, Chris Szedlak1, Katie Shearn3, Shelley Kotze1,
Chad Oatley4, Eman Elzayyadi3, Harriet Wingfield3, Simon Armour3
1. Hartpury University, 2. University of Plymouth, 3. Sheffield Hallam University, 4. Sport England
Introduction
Whole-system approaches are used to address complex challenges like physical inactivity, where outcomes emerge from interacting social processes. Yet evaluation remains largely linear, focused on performance and short-term outputs, creating a mismatch with how systems work. Despite growing recognition of complexity informed approaches, stakeholders are often expected to adopt them without sufficient support.
Best Communication or Presentation Award
Using small stories, analysed collectively, to build an Evaluation Culture.
Tripleline
Introduction
Explores how small, everyday stories can be brought together to generate deeper insight and support organisational learning, making complex ideas accessible and relevant to a wide audience.
Best Evaluation
Reimagining Evaluation Consulting: The Case for Learning Partnerships in Education and Youth Services
Deepta Sunil Valliyil, ImpactEd Group
Introduction
EVALUATOR AS TRANSACTIONAL OUTSIDER VS EVALUATOR AS TRANSFORMATIVE PARTNER
Evaluation consulting in the impact sector presents a paradox, as evaluators must serve as both objective ‘outsiders’ and collaborative co-designers. This paper advocates for learning partnerships in education and youth services to mediate this tension.
Voted for by conference attendees, the People’s Choice Award celebrates the poster that captured the imagination of delegates and sparked conversation throughout the event. Selected by the evaluation community itself, this award recognises a poster that informed, inspired and left a lasting impression.
People's Choice Award
The Nourish school food improvement programme: connecting frontline and evaluation teams through adaptive evaluation
Emily Dawson
Introduction
Adaptive evaluation in practice: a test-and-learn approach The Nourish evaluation was underpinned by a test-and-learn approach: a flexible method in which programme delivery
is shaped by testing ideas in practice, learning quickly, and adapting accordingly.
This approach embedded “learning by doing” throughout the programme by testing assumptions, responding to school contexts, and strengthening delivery over time. However, this flexibility involved trade-offs.
Congratulations to all of this year’s poster award winners and thank you to everyone who submitted a poster. The exhibition showcased the breadth of talent, creativity and expertise across the evaluation community, generating valuable conversations and inspiring new ideas throughout the conference. We are grateful to all contributors for sharing their work and helping to make the poster exhibition such a successful and engaging part of the event.