Centre for Program Evaluation

The Centre for Program Evaluation (CPE) is a transdisciplinary evaluation and research centre that undertakes evaluations and research projects in the areas of education, health, social wellbeing and international community development.

The objectives of the CPE are to:

• Teach and coordinate graduate courses in evaluation and teaching research methods in the school
• Act as a thought leader for the practice and theory of evaluation
• Undertake research and commissioned program evaluations on a consultancy basis across a wide range of policy and program areas

Acting Co-Directors

• 
   Dr Amy Gullickson
  

   03 9035 9682
  

   amy.gullickson@unimelb.edu.au
  

  Dr Amy Gullickson is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Program Evaluation. Amy teaches, advises research students and works on various evaluation projects. Over the last fifteen years, she has worked on evaluation and research projects in a variety of contexts, including academia, health care, education, business, not for profit, international development, and faith communities. Her primary areas of interest are evaluation education, evaluative synthesis, integrating evaluation in organizations, and the relational aspects of conducting evaluation. She is one of the leaders of the recently launched international research community on evaluation education.

  Amy earned a Master of Divinity in 2001 from Luther Seminary. She completed her PhD in Interdisciplinary Evaluation from Western Michigan University in 2010, and joined the CPE team in November 2012.

• 
   Dr Jon Quach
  

   03 8344 1200
  

   jon.quach@unimelb.edu.au
  

  Dr Jon Quach is a Lecturer at the Centre for Program Evaluation and an Honorary Research Fellow in the Community Health Services Research Group at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Jon currently leads and works across a number of projects at CPE, as well as the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

  Jon has eight years of research experience in program management and evaluation of health services provided by hospitals, maternal child health nurses, school-based health services and also community-based healthcare services.

Professional Staff

• 
   Lee Kiong Au
  

  Senior Project Analyst

  Lee Kiong Au is the Senior Project Analyst at the Centre for Program Evaluation. He provides project management oversight for the Centre's research and evaluation projects, and administrative support for the Centre's operational processes.

  Lee has an Honours Degree in Science, Master of Biotechnology from the University of Melbourne, and is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute. He has worked at the University of Melbourne since 2012, and the Centre for Program Evaluation since 2014.

  He is currently pursuing a PhD investigating Implementation in Education.

Academic Staff

• 
   Professor Janet Clinton
  

   03 9035 3697
  

   jclinton@unimelb.edu.au

  Professor Janet Clinton is Director of the Centre for Program Evaluation and Director of the International Teacher Education Effectiveness Research Hub, at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. She has wide national and international experience as an evaluator, psychologist, and educator, and has an extensive publication record. She teaches a number of post-graduate subjects in the discipline of Evaluation - in the areas of quantitative and mixed methodologies. She supervises a number of PhD students in the area of evaluation. Janet has worked in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, and has been a principal investigator on many large complex evaluations and research projects.

  Recently she was the principal evaluator for the Australian Professional Standards for Teaching, and the Real-time captioning pilot in Victorian Schools. She currently leads the Visible Classroom initiative as well as directs the Teacher Capability Assessment Tool project. Overall, she has led over 100 national and international evaluation projects. Her major interest in program evaluation is the development of evaluation theory and methodologies. However, her evaluation work also focuses on development of teacher evaluation protocols, as well as using evaluation as a vehicle for change management and building capacity through extensive engagement with key stakeholders.

• 
   Dr Ghislain Arbour
  

   03 9035 3843
  

   ghislain.arbour@unimelb.edu.au
  

  Dr Ghislain Arbour is a Senior Lecturer and the Associate Director, Teaching and Learning in the Centre at Program Evaluation. Ghislain has a successful teaching record across a range of subjects and workshops and is currently involved in the development of a fully online version of the Master of Evaluation. He also supervises Master of Research and Doctoral students in the domain of evaluation.

  Ghislain holds a PhD in Public Administration from ENAP (National School of Public Administration) in Quebec, Canada, with a specialization in public policy analysis.

• 
   Associate Professor John Owen
  

   03 8344 8371
  

   j.owen@unimelb.edu.au

  Associate Professor John Owen, a former Director of the Centre for Program Evaluation, is interested in the application of various models and approaches to evaluation and the design of protocols that enable these models to be used effectively in organisations. He has a particular interest in the use of evaluation for accountability purposes.

  Another feature of John's recent studies has been to work with organisational leadership and management to improve the delivery of innovative programs, using the principle of sustained interactivity. This principle assumes that ongoing cooperation between evaluators and managers increases the use of funded knowledge in decision-making.

• 
   Georgia Dawson
  

   03 8344 9278
  

   georgia.dawson@unimelb.edu.au
  

  Georgia Dawson is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Program Evaluation and has extensive skills in quantitative data analysis including item response theory, structural equation modelling and path analysis.

  Georgia's research interests include, prediction of performance through cognitive and non-cognitive variables, strategies that improve the classroom functioning of students, the influence of social/emotional factors on learning and the cognitive correlates of reading and reading development. She is currently completing her PhD in Educational Psychology, investigating the utility of mindfulness in improving learning outcomes.

• 
   Timoci O'Connor
  

   03 9035 7963
  

   timoci.oconnor@unimelb.edu.au
  

  Timoci O'Connor has evaluation and research expertise in the fields of international development, public health and education, particularly in the Pacific region, New Zealand, Australia and Southeast Asia. Tim has over 10 years' experience working with diverse populations and in various settings from community, private, government, NGOs, academia, and philanthropic organisations.

  Tim also coordinates, lectures and tutors into a range of subjects including Mixed Methods Research & Evaluation, Qualitative Methods for Evaluation, Health Program Evaluation, Developing Evaluation Capacity and Relating Health & Learning.

  Timoci is pursuing his PhD study exploring the use and feedback of evaluative information through information communication technologies.

• 
   Anthea Rutter
  

   03 8344 6304
  

   asrutter@unimelb.edu.au

  Anthea Rutter is an Investigator in the Centre for Program Evaluation and has extensive experience working with a wide range of community and national organisations. She is particularly knowledgeable and experienced in social research including education, mental health, police and military, emergency management and social welfare projects.

  Anthea’s current projects include the development of an evaluation and research toolkit for the Department of Primary Industry, a review of a family services alliance in the western suburbs, and  is also completing projects with Victoria Police, where she is involved in the review of curriculum delivery and training capacity.

• 
   Dr Ruth Aston
  

   03 9035 8350
  

   ruth.aston@unimelb.edu.au
  

  Dr Ruth Aston is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Program Evaluation. Ruth has project managed several large-scale evaluations across Australia and internationally including the evaluation of the Australian Professional Teaching Standards.

  She has a background in public health, including working on a three-year national project investigating the workforce effectiveness of health promotion workers in New Zealand, and was awarded the Emerging Talent Award in 2014 by the Australasian Evaluation Society for her contribution to evaluation.

  Ruth has comleted her PhD studies, investigating the ways that social change is achieved in Public Health.

• 
   Associate Professor Ron “Kim” Keamy
  

   03 9035 8622
  

   kim.keamy@unimelb.edu.au

  Associate Professor Kim Keamy is currently involved in a number of projects in the Centre for Program Evaluation, including the Assessment for Graduate Teaching, Evaluation of the Differentiated Support for School Improvement Initiatives, and the MGSE Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity program.

  Kim's previous roles include as a primary teacher, initial teacher educator, and Director of Learning & Teaching. His major area of research has been in the field of educational leadership, other research interests include creative pedagogies, arts-informed research methods, the use of online protocols and collegial conversations, and super complexity in higher education institutions.

• 
   Ana Garcia-Melgar
  

  Ana Garcia-Melgar is a Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Centre for Program Evaluation.

  Ana is the Senior Data Analyst and provides support to a breadth of evaluation and research projects in the Centre. She has expertise in conducting mixed-methods and longitudinal research, and has coordinated and delivered research methods courses for postgraduate students and researchers.

  Ana holds a Bachelor of Psychology, a Master of Education, and is currently completing a PhD in Education. Her thesis investigates social and cognitive processes underpinning effective peer learning to enhance student learning, engagement, and success in higher education.

• 
   Katina Tan
  

  Katina Tan is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Program Evaluation.

  Having completed her Master of Teaching (Secondary) with the MGSE, she has been working  with the Malaysian Ministry of Education piloting public school transformation in a program known as the Trust Schools Programme.

  Katina has commenced her PhD studies, and is investigating student engagement and the impact of cultural factors on student achievement in Malaysia. Her other professional experience includes corporate financial management, strategic business planning and business operations support services.

  She contributes to several CPE projects, including Teacher Capability Assessment Tool (TCAT) and Assessment for Graduate Teaching (AfGT).

• 
   Hanchao Hou
  

  Hanchao Hou is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Program Evaluation. He has expertise in designing, conducting and evaluating psychology training programs. Hanchao has a Master's degree in Psychology from Beijing Normal University, and  is currently pursuing his PhD at MGSE, researching the conceptualisation and measurement of wellbeing literacy.

• 
   Meg Stonnill

  Meg Stonnill is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Program Evaluation. She has worked on a number of evaluation and research projects, including the Evaluation of the VicHealth Leading Thinkers Initiative. meg has a Master of Public Health from the University of Melbourne.

• 
   Oskar Weimar

  Oskar Weimar is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Program Evaluation. He has as BA(Hons) from the University of Melbourne and has recently completed a Masters in Sociology at the University of Amsterdam.

• 
   Chabel Khan

  Chabel Khan is a Research Assistant at the CPE. Chabel has previously assisted research of inclusion programs in the not-for-profit sector. Chabel is a PhD candidate (Faculty of Arts) examining the impacts of neoliberal governance on sole-parents. He holds First Class Honours for his B.A. and Master of Social Policy.

• 
   Allison Clarke
  

  Allison is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Program Evaluation with expertise in Monitoring and Evaluation.

  She has over 20 years experience in industrial research, probate research, and program development. Allison has completed a Master of Evaluation, Graduate Diploma in International Development Practice and Bachelor of Science (Chemistry, Microbiology).

• 
   Katla Hower
  

  Katla Hower is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Program Evaluation. She has completed her Bachelor (Honours) in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics and is currently completing a Master of Creative Writing, Publishing, and Editing.

• 
   Benjamin Howes
  

  Benjamin Howes is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Program Evaluation. He has completed a Bachelor of Science (Geography) and Master of Teaching (Primary) at the University of Melbourne. His interests lie in exploring key intersections between education and international development across the Asia Pacific region.

Research higher degree students (RHD)

Academic staff at CPE are available to supervise students wishing to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of Education in evaluation studies.

Contact us

Contact us

Email: CPE-enquiries@unimelb.edu.au

Postal address

Centre for Program Evaluation
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
100 Leicester St, University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010