Sonia Dalkin (@soniadalkin) Bsky

📝 The final version of the Realist Economic Evaluation (REE) Guidance and plain English graphic summary are now live! 🎉

This has been a whirlwind of a project with deep methodological conversations with experts around the world, who we can’t thank enough! 🙏

Please share widely…

6 months ago 0 1 0 0

🌍Professor @soniadalkin.bsky.social joined Professor
@drangelabate.bsky.social
from across the pond at #ICCRES2025 via a tongue-in-cheek video presentation, as part of their unstoppable mission for promoting Realist Economic Evaluation (REE).

Who says methodology has to be boring? 🤷

#Evaluation

6 months ago 2 2 0 1

Ooh - my new paper on case study is out! What’s a case study, how do you do one, how do you spot a good one? Includes niche examples like the REF impact case study (though it’s mainly about research case studies).

6 months ago 104 41 2 4

Couldn’t keep me away! 👋

Well done to all the team over there who are doing an excellent job sharing the work we have done on Realist Economic Evaluation (REE).

6 months ago 0 0 0 0

So sad not to be able to be with my team delivering workshops, plenary, presentations and posters on Realist Economic Evalaution (REE) at the International Conference for Realist Research. #TooPreggoToFly

They are smashing it and I am so proud of them all! 🙌

Have a great conference all…

6 months ago 1 0 0 0

NHS ten-year plan for England: what’s in it and what’s needed to make it work Ten-year NHS transformation hinges on funding and staff support.

My article for @uk.theconversation.com on theTen Year Health Plan for England. So many ideas (and some good ones at that) but precious little about how to implement them. #NHSPlan #FitForTheFuture #NHS #healthpolicy

theconversation.com/nhs-ten-year...

9 months ago 15 11 1 1

Great session! Thanks to all involved.

9 months ago 1 0 0 0

Congratulations to my PhD student Naomi Carlisle and the public contributor on her research Claire Garner, for winning the #HSRUK25 Patient Led Research Award! 👏🙌👏

9 months ago 2 0 0 0

Naomi Carlisle going the extra mile, filming her presentation on preterm birth for #HSRUK2025 at 4am in PJs (camera off!) when she was suddenly unable to travel. Great presentation with really clear recommendations for: risk assessing and referral; for clinics; and for women #ProudSupervisor

9 months ago 1 0 0 0

Excellent workshop on reflections & tips on engaging government & policy makers. Takeaway tips when meeting MPs: Introduce self properly; do your home work; offer succinct policy recommendations (inc. policy brief); know current relevant parliament debates; offer help in return. #HSRUK2025

9 months ago 1 1 0 0

Great #HSRUK25 workshop by Gemma McKenna about engaging government and policymakers, with roleplay (how to talk to your MP) and top tips for writing a policy brief. #KMb

9 months ago 6 5 0 0

‘How do we know if HSR impacts on policy?’ - a great workshop this morning led by @annetteboaz.bsky.social. The workshop was full of ideas of how to do things differently with fantastic engagement in the room!
#HSRUK2025
@barbarahanratty.bsky.social

9 months ago 6 5 1 0

Fantastic impact workshop - tasked to design ways to track & evidence impact. We suggested a dashboard using the wheel of impact. Moving away from claiming policy impact and towards making a contribution to policy impact, through an evidenced narrative… And, we won 🙌🤩🎉

@hsruk.bsky.social #HSRUK2025

9 months ago 1 0 0 0

#HSRUK2025 Gill Vance sets out HSDR investment and community of workforce researchers around 5 new partnership hubs

9 months ago 2 1 0 0

Audience comments suggested we know a lot about workforce issues (increased workload, recruitment and retention, desire for flexibility, burnout) and we now need solutions to address these. Hopes that the new NIHR HSDR Workforce Research Partnerships will address some of these… @hsruk.bsky.social

9 months ago 0 1 0 0

Day 2 #HSRUK25 plenary focusing on workforce: how will innovative research deliver impact? Methodological reflections: use of realist reviews, novel qual methods (e.g. social media analysis, asynchronous online focus groups) & tiered knowledge mobilisation (local➡️international) @hsruk.bsky.social

9 months ago 4 2 1 0

Absolutely!

9 months ago 1 0 0 0

Excellent presentation by Sonia Dalkin on Realist Economic Evaluation Methods... Helping to bridge the evaluation decision gap. #complex #evaluation #hsruk25

9 months ago 2 1 0 0

Great opening plenary at @hsruk.bsky.social about how we as H&SC researchers make impact on policy. Lots of useful advice: share green shoots with caveats, involve local MPs, acknowledge different timescales, ensure representativeness throughout, work with third sector to mobilise findings #HSRUK25

9 months ago 13 9 1 2

A great 2 days chairing the consensus meeting on the Realist Economic Evaluation guidance. Some insightful (and mind bending!) discussions. Such generosity and expertise from the attendees - thank you so much. Straight into #HSRUK25 now!

9 months ago 2 0 0 0

Great opening panel #HSRUK25 about bridging practice, policy and research: it’s all about relationships, knowing when to work with the grey and speaking truth to power, and stick with the ‘old chestnuts’ (enduring themes) #KMb

9 months ago 6 2 1 0

Balancing realist review outputs with the needs of policymakers and practitioners Abstract. A realist review is a theory-driven approach to synthesizing evidence based on the realist philosophy of science. Realist reviews are conducted t

Realist reviewers, here's a banger of a new paper by a South African group whose work I've only just become aware of. Good bit of philosophy to chew on if you've time. But also seeking to make RR more practical. Enjoy! #healthpolicy

academic.oup.com/heapol/artic...

1 year ago 101 33 6 4

Mechanism-based theorizing as a possible approach to addressing the duality of contextualization and generalizability. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

1 year ago 11 4 0 2

Please see the link below for materials from our Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium, hosted at @northumbriauni.bsky.social. This includes presentations from keynote speakers and breakout sessions and pictures from our brilliant photographer! Can you spot yourself...? 👀🔍📷

1 year ago 1 0 0 0

Further Reflections on The Future of Evaluation in Health and Social Care Symposium - IDEAS Authored by: Sofie Jaspers*, Dr Stine Dandanell Garn*, and Charlotte Brøgger Bond** Contents Guiding Concepts Charlotte’s Reflections Stine’s Reflections Sofie’s Reflections Conclusions We kicked off 2025 in style by attending the Future of Evaluation Symposium at Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. As three early-career researchers connected through the Danish realist network, we boarded the plane with high hopes of soaking up new ideas for our upcoming research and networking efforts. Spoiler alert: it exceeded all expectations. The symposium proved to be a treasure trove of fresh perspectives on evaluation research, bringing together experts from a wide array of disciplines and methodologies. We were particularly inspired by the keynote presentations from esteemed researchers in the field, including Professors Ray Pawson (one of the founders of realist evaluation), Carl May (normalization process theory), Laurence Moore and Dr Kathryn Skivington (MRC framework), and Dr Emily Warren (realist trials). A particularly engaging aspect of the symposium was its format. Rather than traditional academic presentations, thought leaders posed bold, thought-provoking challenges, offering a “helicopter view” of the field’s future and sparking insightful discussions on the direction of evaluation research. Special guiding concepts introduced at the symposium that we will carry forward into our future work: The Black Elephant: This concept merges the ideas of a “black box” and “elephant in the room,” emphasizing how decision-makers often overlook or oversimplify the inherent complexities of programs and policies, even when these complexities are both evident and significant. The Iron Law: This concept refers to the tendency of large social and health interventions to have little or no significant net effect. When evaluating the overall impact of many programmes, they frequently show minimal or no long-term effects—at least not to the extent initially expected. However, this does not necessarily mean that all social programs are ineffective. Rather, it suggests that they are often designed, implemented, or evaluated in ways that fail to drive meaningful systemic change. Instead of relying on simplistic judgments of whether a program “works” or “does not work,” this concept urges a deeper analysis of why an intervention has led to certain outcomes and how we can better explain and improve its impact. Cumulative Knowledge Generation: This concept highlights the need to systematically gather and use knowledge so that lessons from one program can be transferred to others. Many complex interventions are designed without considering previous learnings from similar programs, leading to repeated mistakes and ineffective solutions. As such, rather than evaluating each program as an isolated unit, this principle encourages us to develop a deeper understanding of the key factors that make an intervention successful, allowing them to be applied across different projects and contexts. Do not harm: Interventions are naturally designed to create improvements. However, when developing programme theories and logic models, we often overlook potential harmful effects. The symposium highlighted the need to look beyond intended outcomes, consider, and assess potential unintended consequences and their underlying mechanisms, using tools like realist ripple effects mapping or dark logic models. In addition to the keynote sessions, the symposium featured engaging breakout sessions. We participated in one titled The Future of Evaluation: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?, organized by Professors Angela Bate and Sonia Dalkin. We actively contributed to a creative process of writing on post-it notes, helping to create a map of ideas that reflected the collective hopes, beliefs, challenges, and things to avoid in the future of evaluation. We also attended another breakout session, Mobilising Knowledge from Complex Intervention Evaluations into Policy and Practice: How to Deal with Lazy Academics and Stubborn Policymakers, presented by Dr. Peter Van der Graaf and Dr. Sebastian Potthof. They introduced their I-STEAM tool, demonstrating structured approaches to implementation and stakeholder engagement. We found it highly relevant and are excited to apply it in practice. At the National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Stine works with knowledge mobilization, and it was inspiring to see how other research groups structure this work. We each took valuable insights home for our upcoming projects: Charlotte: As a PhD student conducting a realist evaluation of a stress management intervention, I set out to present a poster outlining my initial programme theory. My colleagues back home had warned me not to expect much engagement, especially at larger conferences where posters often don’t draw much attention. So, I was both surprised and a little nervous when I stepped into the intimate setting of the symposium. It was a bit overwhelming to stand face to face with leading researchers in the field and present my work. While I did receive some positive feedback, I was also gently challenged by a respected editor from a high-impact journal. The editor encouraged me to think more deeply about the audience for my research and offered valuable advice on how to further develop my work. It’s moments like these, when you’re pushed to think critically, that truly help you grow as a researcher. Stine: As a recent PhD graduate, having applied the MRC framework alongside realist principles to evaluate a peer support intervention for vulnerable diabetes patients—and with a strong interest in evaluation methods—the symposium felt tailor-made for me. More than just an academic event, it provided a rare and invaluable opportunity to connect in person with colleagues and collaborators. Notably, it marked the first face-to-face meeting for many of us in the Danish realist network. A standout moment was presenting and discussing my PhD research with researchers who have profoundly shaped my thinking—scholars I have cited, learned from, and been taught by. Sharing my proposal for an extended modified CMO configuration, designed to emphasize broader measurement of outcome patterns, was both insightful and humbling. I returned home with a suitcase full of new insights, strengthened relationships, exciting collaborations, and valuable tools and concepts I look forward to applying in my work. Sofie: Over the past 10 years, I have developed a methods interest alongside my subject area of research in organizational health and safety, and this symposium was finally

A distinguished group of scholars from Denmark shared their valuable insights from last month's symposium.

To learn more about their perspectives and the outcomes of the event, please visit the IDEAS NET website through the link below.

hosting2.northumbria.ac.uk/ideas/?p=5696

1 year ago 2 1 0 0

Theoretical foundations and mechanisms of health systems responsiveness: a realist synthesis Health systems responsiveness is a key health systems goal, operationalised as an outcome measured across domains such as dignity and confidentiality.…

Theoretical foundations and mechanisms of health systems responsiveness: a realist synthesis www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

1 year ago 1 0 0 0

Brilliant afternoon watching @safc.com vs Watford at the Stadium of Light. This was proceeded by a presentation of and input into the draft strategy for health from the football clubs charitable arm, The Foundation of Light. Go black cats!! 🐈‍⬛

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

Government backs new centre for writing in the North East The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) has awarded £5m of its Cultural Development Fund to help create a new centre for writing and publishing in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Fantastic news for creative industries in North East with £5m DCMS investment in new centre for writing, led by New Writing North and Northumbria in partnership with Newcastle City Council, @kimmcguinness.bsky.social & publishers such as @hachetteuk.bsky.social www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/new...

1 year ago 17 3 1 4

To get Britain working we need to get Britain healthy An approach linking health and skills could boost employability In the UK, 2.8 million people are economically inactive and in receipt of health related welfare benefits.1 Almost a million young peop...

"To get Britain working we need to get Britain healthy" - our BMJ editorial today with ideas for government @lukemunford.bsky.social @healthequitynorth.bsky.social
www.bmj.com/content/388/...

1 year ago 13 7 0 0

What a picture! Thank you for coming Phill, was great to have you there.

1 year ago 1 0 1 0

Posts by Sonia Dalkin