Sonia Mussawir is the Director of the Social Investment Unit which delivers analytics to help inform earlier interventions for the Victorian Departments of Health and Families, Fairness and Housing. Sonia has a background in economics and has worked in public service analytics related roles for over 15 years. She is a passionate advocate for how government can use linked data to provide evidence from a person and family-centred and long-term perspective to inform better investments for people experiencing disadvantage.

Josephine Norman is the Director, Centre for Evaluation and Research Evidence (CERE), the default evaluation provider for the for the Victorian Government Departments of Health, and of Families, Fairness and Housing. She leads a team of forty specialist evaluators with responsibility for delivering or providing procurement support to more than 150 evaluations annually. The Centre delivered the evaluation of the Family Preservation and Reunification Response. The evaluation included a pre-post and case-comparison design for examination of outcomes data, as well as over 40 small group and individual interviews with clients and service delivery staff conducted by CERE and an Indigenous-owned research consulting firm. Josephine also holds the role of Chair, Australasian Public Sector Evaluation Network which provides thought leadership, professional support and networking opportunities to more than 850 evaluators working inside and with government. She is a criminologist by training, with extensive experience in evaluation, health and human service systems research, clinical trials and capacity building. She was the recipient of the 2021 Australasian Evaluation Society Award for Excellence in Public Sector evaluation.

Melinda Polimeni, PhD is a registered psychologist specialising in program design and implementation in social services. Over the last 15 years, Melinda’s work has focused on utilising both her clinical and research skills to lead a portfolio of projects across education, early childhood, health, welfare and disability sectors.

Mary Roberts is the Director of Children and Families Support and Safeguarding at the Department, Families, Fairness and Housing. She has worked in various Children and Families policy areas for over 15 years. Her work in designing and strengthening human services programs has had a focus on vulnerable children, young people and families and on embedding evidence-based approaches in these programs.

Dr Nicola Thomson is Manager of the Evidence Strategy team, Family Services, Evidence and Quality Improvement Branch at the Department, Families, Fairness and Housing. Nicola brings 15 years of research experience in the community and academic sector, specialising in research with vulnerable groups. She has led the Evidence Strategy team over the past four years, overseeing a range of innovative projects that focus on embedding evidence in community services, and driving evidence-informed policy.