webinar register page

Data Foundation’s 2022 VIRTUAL Research Symposium: Assessing Capacity for Using Data to Build Actionable Evidence

Across government agencies, public officials are engaging in activities to facilitate building and using evidence to inform decision-making for improving business decisions, program outcomes, and day-to-day operations that affect the American people. The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act) set expectations for government agencies to improve their capacity to engage in data-driven and evidence-informed decision- making. A core feature of the Evidence Act is establishing the leadership positions for data, evaluation, and statistical officials, staffing infrastructure, and processes that enable government agencies to increasingly construct and use evidence to inform policy decisions. The first three years of Evidence Act implementation were focused on developing multi-year learning agendas with key learning priorities, the establishment of senior-level officials like chief data officers and evaluation officers, and conducting capacity assessments, to understand the agency’s infrastructure and its ability to produce and use evidence for decision making.

The Data Foundation’s 2022 Virtual Research Symposium, in partnership with George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School for Public Policy and Public Administration, provides the opportunity for researchers, data analysts, evaluators, program managers, and other experts from across the data and evidence community to share knowledge and innovative practices. The Research Symposium will spotlight strategies that increase the use of data and evidence for decision-making and a better-informed society. In 2022, the Symposium’s theme centers on assessing capacity for using data to build actionable evidence, aligning with the new publication of assessments federal agencies will publish in Spring 2022 about their own capacity for engaging in evidence-building activities and other major initiatives of Evidence Act implementation underway in government today.