2024 Annual Conference: Embedding Evidence in Education

This year, the annual 2024 Jacobs Foundation Conference took place in Germany at Marbach Castle, under the theme of: Embedding Evidence in Education: How Evidence Travels Through System(s).

Despite ongoing efforts to enhance the integration of rigorous research into education policy and practice in recent decades, the utilization of evidence remains relatively limited, particularly when compared to other fields. The 2024 Jacobs Foundation Conference investigated innovative approaches and sustainable frameworks for generating and applying evidence, implementing evidence-based strategies, and facilitating the seamless transition of evidence across the following stages:

I. Evidence generation and synthesis

II. Evidence to education policy

III. Evidence to education practice

The conference brought together experts from all over the world who study, organize, and lead processes of embedding evidence in education policy and practice. It focused on in-depth examinations of four countries: Ghana, Switzerland, Colombia, and Côte d’Ivoire. In addition to representatives from these nations, the event convened domestic and international experts involved in studying, coordinating, and guiding the incorporation of evidence into educational policies and practices. 

The objective was to assess lessons learned from past experiences and explore new frontiers in the journey of evidence, from its inception to its utilization in policy and practice. Discussions varied from evidence on the efficacy of EdLabs to financing evidence-based education in the Global South. For our Chief Knowledge Officer, Donika Dimovska:

The Conference engendered a dialogue on ways to better connect the supply of evidence with demand by policymakers and practitioners. Participants also reflected on the need for global public goods that serve the needs of end users more effectively and enable the creation of a better aligned “evidence architecture”

Donika Dimovska

Donika Dimovska

Keep your eyes peeled for our 2024 Conference playlist, featuring personalized insights from partners in our key geographies about the biggest challenges around bringing evidence to education policy and solutions to these problems.