EES is excited to announce its 13th Biennial Conference from 1 to 5 October 2018 in Thessaloniki, Greece. The leading theme of the EES2018 Conference is “Evaluation for more resilient societies”. The Conference offers 5 days of debates on evaluation in times of financial, geopolitical, environmental and humanitarian crises.

After a decade of turbulence in Europe and the world, we need to focus on the contribution from evaluation. Crises, inherently, lead to change, positive and negative. What is the role of evaluation in understanding the multiple crises currently ongoing? Which are our collective responses? How can evaluation help make societies more resilient? Evaluation for resilient societies will be the leading theme of the EES2018 biennial conference. At the same time, the conference will provide the traditional opportunities for exchanging on evaluation politics, capacity, systems, research, methods, communication and use.

The EES will organise the Conference together with the Hellenic Evaluation Society in Thessaloniki, at the crossroads of continents, countries and cultures. Greece is also facing complex economic problems, while remaining on the frontline of Europe’s asylum and migration challenges. The very word crisis originates in Greek language, where it means judgment or decision. So evaluation and crisis go hand in hand. We need good krisis, good judgment and critical thinking, to overcome the crisis. We need evaluation to deal with crisis. Greece represents the perfect stage to debate how evaluation may help societies in Europe and beyond respond to the challenges of crises.