Blog22 April 2025
This will be my 4th TASO annual conference I have had the pleasure of being a part of. The conference has come a long way since our very first event back in 2021, which took place entirely online right in the heart of COVID restrictions.
Shaping the agenda together
This year is all about deeper sector involvement. We wanted the conference to reflect the priorities, challenges and needs of the sector and the evaluation community, so we did something new: we brought in voices from across the sector to help shape the agenda.
We invited members of the TASO Sector Network to consult on the conference through a new working group, the Events Advisory Group. This group of seven colleagues brings together a diverse mix of perspectives from across the sector, representing different regions, institutional sizes, and levels of experience with evaluation.
The group’s insights were invaluable. It quickly became clear that, despite the variety of providers in the sector, many of the same challenges are shared across institutions. Providers are grappling with similar questions – how to achieve impact through evaluation, how to embed evaluation in practice, and how to make best use of available resources.
Responding to sector needs
A clear message from the group was the desire for more peer-to-peer learning opportunities. As a result, the 2025 conference agenda introduces new formats designed to foster this, including:
- Home Groups: Small, facilitated groups that meet throughout the conference to reflect on sessions and share insights with peers.
- Poster Session: A new space for showcasing work from across the sector, offering practical examples of evaluation in action and learning from both successes and challenges.
While it was important for us to highlight what we could be doing differently, it has also been great to shine a light on what is already working well. This year’s conference will see the return of the session “Guide to RCTs” where attendees can take part in a live randomised controlled trial, back by popular demand after receiving great feedback last year. The group agreed it was a valuable session for unpacking the realities of running complex evaluations, and we’re excited to build on it.
One of the most rewarding elements of this process was hearing how TASO’s work is already supporting the sector. Through the advisory group and conference poster proposals, we saw clear examples of higher education providers using TASO resources in their own practice. We’re looking forward to showcasing this at the conference and celebrating the fantastic work happening across the sector.
Reflections from the Events Advisory Group
We also heard from Holly Rowe, Deputy Head of Widening Participation at the University of Cambridge, and member of the Events Advisory Group, who shared her reflections on being involved in shaping this year’s conference:
“Having attended two TASO conferences before, I’ve always valued the space it offers for open reflection and honest conversations across the sector. This year feels particularly special– not just because of how far the conference has come, but because I had the opportunity to help shape it as a member of the Events Advisory Panel.
I was really proud to contribute to this group and was especially pleased to see space made for smaller breakout sessions and the new poster session format. These create more room for deep, practice-focused conversations- something I know many of us draw so much inspiration from.
My hope for this year’s conference is that it leaves us all with practical takeaways we can use to strengthen the implementation phase and ensure we deliver on our Access and Participation Plan (APP) commitments. I’m personally looking to pick up learnings on how to push the knowledge-to-practice cycle forward. I’m also excited to hunt out any opportunities for long-term connections and cross-institutional collaboration from fellow attendees. In a climate where many institutions are facing tighter budgets, I firmly believe that the link between effective evaluation and delivery needs to be stronger than ever. Evaluation shouldn’t be seen as a luxury, but as the compass that helps guide our strategic decisions across the APP cycle.
Being part of the panel also gave me the chance to hear how others are approaching evaluation, particularly in their use of different types of data, and it’s been so energising to learn from the variety of perspectives across the group.
I attended my first TASO conference just two weeks after starting my role at Cambridge. Since then, we’ve written and had our APP approved, I’ve been promoted, and we’ve brought a brilliant evaluation manager into our small but mighty evaluation team. This year feels like a full-circle moment for me; and a chance to take stock, celebrate the progress we’ve made as an institution, and refocus on the long term, strengthened by the expertise and energy of everyone in the room.
TASO has been a huge part of my journey, and I can’t wait to see how this next conference shapes our work over the coming year.”
Looking ahead: Continuing collaboration
The Events Advisory Group has been a valuable addition to our conference planning, helping us stay in tune to what the sector needs. We hope this group will continue to shape our work – not just for the conference, but for TASO’s wider training and events programme.