Who should apply?

The programmes have been designed for those who are tasked with the design, management, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of public programmes and interventions. More specifically, the following people will find the course of value:

  • Researchers and consultants tasked with evaluation studies
  • M&E officers in government, industry and civil society
  • Project managers in government research and planning units and directorates
  • NGO employees involved in social, health and educational research activities
  • Social policy analysts and advisers
  • Social science methodology lecturers

Dissertation options

  • Thematic evaluation studies such as: Mixed method evaluation studies/ Evaluating Strategy/ Improving Outcome Evaluations/ Evaluation Ethics/ Evaluator competencies/Multi-site evaluations, etc.
    • The PhD would address a topical theme –systematically reviewing the literature on that theme over the past 10 years AND then develop an empirical study that would link with that theme.
  • Evaluation approaches (such as Utilisation-focussed, Realistic evaluation)
    • The PhD would address an evaluation approach –systematically reviewing the literature on that approach over the past 10 years or so AND then develop an empirical study that would link with that theme.
  • Specific evaluation studies e.g. Research Evaluation/ Evaluation of Health Interventions/ Evaluation of Educational Programmes/ etc.
    • The PhD would involve a review of the scholarship from a particular field of evaluation and a review some of the common approaches and methodologies and even methods and tools used in each of these “fields”.
  • The PhD student would then include an empirical application.
    • Meta-studies (historical/ philosophical/ epistemological/ methodological) of evaluation practice, e.g. the nature of impact evaluation/ the challenges of causal attribution/ understanding causal mechanisms/ reflecting on complexity in programmes/ historical studies of evaluation enterprises in Africa/ etc.

The topic of the thesis will have to be developed in detail with CREST M&E supervisory staff.