Lisa Thomson

Victorian Department of Health

Dr Lisa Thomson has worked as a social researcher for 30 years in public health, the community sector, government and academia. Over that time, she has conducted research and evaluation with a range of different groups including homeless young people, children and families, newly arrived migrants, the long term unemployed and across different facets of public health. Lisa currently works as Manager, Evaluation & Research in the Victorian Department of Health. In this role she leads both small and large evaluations across both health and human services. Generating evidence in the form of research and evaluation to assess what works is critical to inform policy and practice within government. Lisa holds a PhD in Sociology and has a Masters degree in Applied Social Research.

Abi Jayawardena has worked as a research and evaluation specialist in public health, community service organisations, speicalist medical colleges, academia and government for over 15 years. During this time, she has delivered a wide range of evaluations which included quantitative and qualitative deisgns. Abi currently works as a Senior Evaluation and Research Officer in the Victorian Department of Health. Abi holds a Master of Public Health specialising in Epidemiology and Program Evaluation.

Kathryn has a Master of International and Community Development and Bachelor of Science in Psychology, with a major in Sociology and Social Policy. Kathryn has been working in research and evaluation roles for over ten years in organisations including the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Red Cross, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and currently the Victorian Department of Health. Since commencing at the Centre for Evaluation and Research evidence at the Department of Health, Kathryn has undertaken evaluations across a number of subject areas within health and human services including emergency management, public housing, family violence, childhood immunisation, homelessness, disability and COVID-19 response.

Tom holds a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies.  He has worked as an Evaluation consultant in private research company that involved planning and facilitating complex evaluation projects.  More recently he worked as a client engagement contractor with a Community Health Service where the focus was on integrating good practice with consumer and carer experience into continuous service delivery improvement. This role involved working with stakeholders and building relationships to inform design and evaluation processes.  Tom is currently employed as a Senior Evaluation and Research Officer at the Centre for Evaluation & Research Evidence.