In her new role, Befani will lead and advise NatCen on evaluation projects and develop programmes to build the organisation’s capacity for theory-based impact evaluation.

Befani is an editorial board member of the journal Evaluation and was elected board member of the European Evaluation Society (EES), between 2012 and 2015, and was former EES secretary general.

In addition, Befani is a research fellow at the University of Surrey and a research associate at the University of East Anglia.

Joanne McLean, co-director at the Centre for Evaluation at NatCen, said: “NatCen’s Centre for Evaluation specialises in delivering a variety of evaluations to support organisations discover what is and isn’t working about their programmes and policies and why; enabling them to make the most appropriate, evidence informed decisions about how they can make best use of their funds and resources to impact positive societal change.

“Barbara’s expertise combined with the innovative evaluation methodologies we employ for projects across a range of policy areas will strengthen our offer in this area.”