Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel Role and Membership

Guidance

The Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel (ETAP)

ETAP brings together top UK evaluation and experimentation experts to provide free evaluation advice to civil servants, local government and What Works Centres.

From: Evaluation Task Force and Modernisation and Reform Published 6 August 2015 Last updated 8 April 2026
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Documents

ETAP Members List (March 2026)

PDF, 418 KB, 23 pages

ETAP Members List (March 2026)

ODT, 136 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Details

Overview of the Panel

Bringing together individuals who are expert evaluators and passionate about evidence-based policymaking, the Panel provides advice on a variety of evaluation methods and approaches. It supports civil servants, local government and What Works Centres in the design and implementation of robust, high-quality evaluations.

The Panel comprises individuals from academia, government, research organisations and other areas with an understanding of the policy environment and the realities of undertaking evaluations at pace in complex areas of social policy. They have the ability to turn expert knowledge into practical, helpful advice; have substantial work experience in the field of evaluation and have extensive practical and applied evaluation skills. Please see the above documents for details of our current panel members.

Since 2015, the Panel has advised on over 230 projects across government departments. The Panel has advised a range of policy areas, including education, transport, employment, crime and more.

Examples of the Panel’s work

Read below testimonials from some of the research teams who have sought advice from the Panel:

Hazel Stewart, Breakfast Clubs, Family Hubs, Flexible Childcare, and Food Analysis and Research Unit, Department for Education

ETAP’s advice was instrumental in helping us refine and focus our evaluation plans for the Department for Education’s free breakfast clubs programme. The panel members’ input helped us narrow the scope, prioritise outcomes based on both policy relevance and data availability, and strengthen our theory of changes. They encouraged us to consider new ideas in a way that felt proportionate and practical, including considering methodological options for quasi-experimental design to future-proof the evaluation. The advice was thoughtful, pragmatic, and well-evidenced, and it gave us confidence that our evaluation would be robust and credible, even in a rapidly changing policy landscape.
Nick Boase, Social Research Team, Agri-Food Chain Directorate, Defra

Engagement with the panel has been immensely helpful for our work at Defra on trials to encourage healthy sustainable diets. The panel’s wide-ranging expertise, a wealth of experience and constructive challenge helped refine our programme of work. The impact of this advice is that our research programme is more robust, and better equipped to deliver high-quality actionable evidence which can inform future policy across government. We’ve been well supported from initial contact with the panel, through to the meeting and follow-up afterwards with panel members. We wouldn’t hesitate in recommending this group to others seeking advice on trials.
The Panel helped the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) design their first-ever randomised controlled trial showing that providing English language classes to women in segregated communities made these women more likely to use local amenities and develop friendships with people from different backgrounds. The trial fed into the government’s 2018 integrated communities strategy green paper and a new £6 million Integrated Communities English Language Programme in 2019/20.

Being part of the Panel

Read below for our panellists’ reflections on their time on the Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel.

Anouk Rigterink, Associate Professor of Quantitative Comparative Politics, Durham University

Serving on the Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel has taught me a lot, and enabled me to help make Government evaluations as good as they can be.  It helps me stay on top of the latest thinking about evaluation in a variety of Government Departments. Advice sessions are very enjoyable discussions: it is very rewarding to help Departments think through evaluation challenges and jointly find solutions.
Laura Hayward, Deputy Head of Evaluation, Ipsos

I have thoroughly enjoyed participating in the Panel, which now forms a key part of the UK’s wider evaluation community. The work is varied and impactful: the panel is playing an active role in improving evaluation quality within the UK government. It also provides a platform for non-civil servant professionals to share and enhance their expertise.
Alex Sutherland, Professor in Practice, Criminology and Public Policy, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford

ETAP gives you the opportunity to apply your research knowledge and experience to a host of topic areas and work with a diverse range of teams. You get to work on some of the hardest policy problems and research topics in government, contribute to making better evidence, and feel good about it at the same time. What’s not to like?

More information

Contact us at trialadvicepanel@cabinetoffice.gov.uk for advice and support.

Related content

• Evaluation Task Force

Published 6 August 2015 Last updated 8 April 2026 show all updates
1.
8 April 2026

Updated with the latest version: ETAP Members List (March 2026)
2.
24 March 2026

Replaced both documents with the latest versions
3.
9 March 2026

Updated both documents to note that the team are onboarding the new panel and a refreshed list of panel members will be published very shortly
4.
29 December 2025

The ETF has updated this page with the latest numbers of requests supported by the Panel. They also added updated user and panel member testimonials.
5.
5 August 2025

Updated members list (August 2025)
6.
1 March 2023

Updated list of Evaluation & Trial Advice Panel (ETAP) members (2023) attached.
7.
8 December 2022

Applications for panel members are now closed.
8.
24 November 2022

Deadline for applications to ETAP has been extended to 1st December
9.
13 October 2022

Added a link to access the ETAP recruitment campaign page
10.
12 July 2022

The What Works Trial Advice Panel has now been renamed the Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel.

The Cabinet Office What Works Team has now been dissolved; the Evaluation Task Force now manages the Evaluation and Trial Advice Panel.
11.
30 October 2019

Whole page updated.
12.
6 August 2015

First published.
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