On June 18–19, 2025, the international conference of the PROFEEDBACK COST Action project focusing on education and youth policy was held in Budapest, organised by the HÉTFA Research Institute. The project, titled PlatfoRm OF policy Evaluation community for improvED EU policies and Better ACKnowledgement, aims to strengthen connections within the EU-level policy evaluation community, raise awareness about the importance of policy evaluation research, and enhance its impact on policymaking.
The event was officially opened by Gábor Balás, Chair of the PROFEEDBACK network and Director of the HÉTFA Research Institute, alongside Tibor Navracsics, Minister for Public Administration and Regional Development of Hungary. The opening and keynote speeches were delivered by experts from international organisations including the OECD, World Bank, and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The presentations addressed the intersections of employment, education, and youth policy, and highlighted the role of evaluation in driving systemic transformation.
The two-day conference brought together more than 100 participants and featured 20 poster presentations and 8 thematic sessions. Several colleagues from the HÉTFA Research Institute contributed to the parallel sessions: Luca Koltai, Eszter Szőnyi, and Kinga Tóth presented evaluation experiences from programmes targeting older NEET youth (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), while Bálint Herczeg discussed the impact of university programmes on student dropout rates through Hungarian case studies. In the poster session, Luca Szöőr-Fülöp and Katalin Bördős shared good practices for supporting the labour market integration of young people.
A dedicated policy roundtable focused on the role of evaluation in EU-level decision-making, bringing together experts and institutional representatives.
As the conference concluded, a clear message emerged: there remains a strong need for continued collaboration to strengthen the culture of evaluation across Europe. One of the closing reflections summed it up well: effective policymaking relies on thoughtful, independent, and reflexive evaluation.
Presentations, videos, and posters from the conference will soon be available on PROFEEDBACK platforms.
