develop your pragmatic approach.

Discover detailed information on how our organisation can help you build capacity for evaluation in the field of physical activity

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What is Pragmatic Evaluation?

Pragmatic Evaluation in Physical Activity and Health (PEPAH) is a global initiative to improve the evidence base on the implementation and effectiveness of ‘real world’ physical activity interventions.

One of the main activities delivered by the organisation is courses aimed at building capacity for evaluation in the field of physical activity. The focus is on designing and conducting evaluations of ‘real world’ physical activity interventions, which often require a pragmatic and flexible approach

Who is it for?

The course is ideal for Researchers, Practitioners and Policy Makers who are interested in the practical application of their work and/or for employees of government and non-government entities who aspire to rigorously evaluate their programs and policies or who wish to understand how to work most effectively with external evaluation partners.

Learn About the Course

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Upcoming courses

Join our next course

Every course brings together policy makers, practitioners, and researchers from around the world for two days of practical, hands-on training in pragmatic evaluation — how to plan it, conduct it, and report it in real-world, limited-resource settings.

Whether you commission evaluations or deliver them, you’ll leave with skills you can apply straight away — and connections with people doing the same work across the globe.

View our upcoming courses

The Pragmatics

Dr Paul Kelly

Course Organiser

Dr Justin Richards

Course Organiser

Meet the Team

Reviews

“I came into the course as a young PhD student who had been classically taught evaluation methods and techniques during my undergraduate and Master’s degrees. However, the innovative, pragmatic, stakeholder-focussed and forward thinking lens the course is framed in, taught practically by some of the leading thinkers in the field, completely shifted my own thinking and changed how I approached research and evaluation from that point forward.”

Dr Lewis Austin Keane

Policy Officer – Australian Government

“The Pragmatic Evaluation Course was useful to me and the work we do in Sport Ireland in more ways than one- not only did it provide us with a solid theoretical (and pragmatic) foundation on which to base our evaluation work, it was invaluable in the opportunities it provided us to network with some of the sharpest minds working in this space. I learnt an equal amount in the classroom and outside it!”

Vydehi Muppavarapu

Evaluation and Research Manager, Sport Ireland

“The 2.5 days training on the ‘Pragmatic Evaluation in Physical Activity” not only allowed me to develop an understanding and the application of the theoretical underpinning of a pragmatic evaluation in physical activity; it also provided me with the foundational knowledge to critically reviewed studies relating to physical activity evaluation. This knowledge and skills I have continuously applied in most of my current research activities.”

Michael Kalu

Scientific Director, Emerging Researchers & Professionals in Ageing- African Network

“The Pragmatic Evaluation course undoubtedly advanced my knowledge related to evaluation. In terms of length, intensity and design, the pragmatics [Karen, Paul, and Justin] got it spot on. The delivery of course content was intuitively planned and extremely engaging. This course also provided ample opportunities to network with course attendees and senior public health specialists during breaks and fun evening activities. I would recommend this course, without any hesitation.”

George Thomas

PhD (Post-Doctoral Researcher)

“I am so happy I took part in the Pragmatic Evaluation course. I can honestly say that what I learned over the 2.5 days has really shaped my approach to research design and evaluation. The course is delivered by a fantastic team of people and the format provides lots of opportunity for interactive learning, discussion and networking with people from all different backgrounds. I really enjoyed the course and would recommend it to anyone wishing to advance their knowledge in research and evaluation methodology.”

Jacqueline Mair

Senior Scientist, Singapore-ETH Centre

“Attending the Pragmatic course was such an eye-opening experience. As an NGO practitioner in South Africa, the workshops I attended were really helpful in exploring our organisation’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning methodologies. We also had an opportunity to work with some great facilitators who took complex concepts and made them digestible. Even today, Skateistan uses some of the activities learned through the evaluation course (the book/reading activity in particular) in our internal workshops as it helps to explain the importance of qualitative and quantitative data collection.”