Happy holidays from IEWG board - reflections on 2025
Tanya O'Garra
Dear Counterfactual Community,
As the year comes to a close, we wanted to wish you all a very happy holiday season. It has been a challenging year for many people working in conservation, but we hope that 2026 will be a more inspired and positive one - and that more of you will be able to attend the conferences and gatherings you may have missed this past year!
We would also like to take this moment to share a brief update on what our board members and wider community have achieved in 2025, and what we are looking forward to in 2026.
New Board Members
One of the highlights of the year has been welcoming a fantastic group of new board members, including Alex, Renzo, Claire, Malavika, Pralhad and Ellie (meet them here). This community is only as strong as the people in it, and the energy, ideas, and commitment of our expanded board have already made a real difference. We also said goodbye to some really great board members, including Edwin Pynegar, Beth Algood and Megan Kocina - wishing them best of luck in their endeavours.
Conferences
ICCB 2025 (Brisbane, Australia): We hosted both a symposium and a roundtable at ICCB 2025. We saw very high attendance and engagement from participants, underscoring the growing interest in impact evaluation across the conservation community. You can read more about the sessions here.
ECCB 2026 (Leiden, June 2026): Our symposium, “Evidence and Attribution in the Age of Novel Data, Tools, and Technologies,” has been accepted for ECCB 2026. It will feature six excellent presentations, with more details to follow in the new year.
SCB Asia 2026: We are still seeking presentations for a symposium proposal (titled: "Evaluating the impacts of conservation on biodiversity and human wellbeing in Asia") to be submitted for SCB Asia 2026, to be held in June in Nepal. Please email teamcount...@gmail.com if you would like to be considered.
New Website and Tool
We launched a new shiny website (now: https://scb-impact.org/) along with a snazzy new interactive method selection tool (try it out here!).
Mentoring
Our mentoring scheme has restarted for the 2025–2026 cycle. The programme continues to evolve as we learn more about what works best for mentors and mentees alike.
Virtual Seminars
In 2025, the virtual seminar series passed the baton from Sheila Reddy to Allen Blackman and Julia Jones. We are delighted to have them on board and have already enjoyed several excellent talks, with more planned for the year ahead. Further details will be shared soon.
Special Issue - Impact evaluation for conservation: Bridging research and practice
Members of the IEWG board (past and present) and of the wider counterfactual community published a Special Issue on impact evaluation in conservation - with a focus on how to get started, creative approaches to address challenges, and lessons learned from organizational practice. We hope this will be a go-to resource for practitioners, researchers, funders and budding evaluators interesting in using causal inference to evaluate projects. Find it here in Conservation Science and Practice.
Engaging with the Arcus Foundation
One of the most exciting developments this year has been a collaboration with the Arcus Foundation’s Great Apes and Gibbons Program. We are currently co-developing a proposal with Arcus to pilot a programme aimed at stimulating counterfactual thinking and causal inference among conservation organisations. This is still at an early stage, and we will keep you updated as it develops.
Research Briefing
Finally, we recently shared our second Research Briefing with the community (find it here). We think it's a great one - check it out!
Thank you for being part of this community. We look forward to staying connected in 2026 and continuing to learn together.
With best regards and happy holidays,
Tanya on behalf of the Impact Evaluation Working Group board