The first PROFEEDBACK Conference took place in Budapest on 28th April 2022, followed by a Management Committee meeting on 29th April 2022. Under the lead of HÉTFA, the conference on Evaluation of public policy responses to black swans was a great success with more than 75 participants from 23 different countries.
HÉTFA – as the Grant holder institution – participates in a COST-Action called PROFEEDBACK (PlatfoRm OF policy Evaluation community for improvED EU policies and Better ACKnowledgement). The Action aims to foster the networking of the policy evaluation community at EU-level, raise awareness on the importance of evaluation policy research and improve its impact on policy-making. In the framework of PROFEEDBACK, HÉTFA has organised a successful conference, the first milestone in a series of conferences to be implemented during the COST-Action’s lifespan. The general aim of the PROFEEDBACK conferences is to bring together researchers and policymakers from European states, universities, research institutes and consultancies.
The first conference took place in-person in Budapest on 28th April 2022. Alongside the main conference day, a Management Committee meeting enriched the programme on 29th April 2022. Under the theme “Evaluation of public policy responses to black swans”, the event identified the most significant challenges posed by black swan events from the evaluation community’s perspective and provided theoretical concepts and quantitative/qualitative methodological solutions to forward the participants’ repertoire of evaluating policies borne from black swan events.
Day 1 of the PROFEEDBACK Conference featured an official welcome by the Action Char Gábor Balás, followed by three plenary presentations with contributions by Yannis Bassiakos, Lena Tsipouri, followed by Aureliano da Ponte, and concluded by Philipp Brugner. During the afternoon, participants had the chance to choose from two parallel sessions to attend. Under the theme ‘Comparing evaluation methods and exploring examples of evaluations supporting policy responses to black swans in health and economic policies’, Session 1 featured presentations by Ileana-Sabina Chiaburu, Jaroslav Dvorak, Bálint Herczeg and Oto Potluka. Meanwhile, Session 2 encompassed presentations by Noémia Bessa Vilela, Milica Kolaković-Bojović, Mirela Cerkez, and Kosovka Ognjenović & Mihajlo Đukić under the theme of ‘Evaluating the long-term impacts (institutional responses) of black swans on policy-making’. After a short break, the conference continued with two parallel sessions. Under the theme ‘Comparative assessment of the economic impact of Black Swans across EU regions’, Session 1 featured presentations with the contributions of Xu Cao, Ivan Nikolić and Tamás Szabó. Session 2 featured presentations by Luca Koltai, Irina Lonean, Michaela Aioanei and Claudia Petrescu under the theme ‘Comparing evaluation methods and exploring examples of evaluations supporting policy responses to black swans in human policies’.
Day 2 consisted of the meetings of the Action’s three Working Groups open for network members, as well as a Management Committee Meeting. As a major milestone in the Action, the meeting’s main aim was to vote on deliverables and appointments as well as discuss next steps.
The two-day event resulted in fruitful exchanges and important outcomes. The knowledge and experience gained through the programme are long-lasting and the connections made will certainly remain. View the conference’s gallery here.
