Tom Ling has over 20 years of experience in designing, managing and delivering complex evaluations. He is a senior research leader at RAND Europe and head of evaluation. He leads evaluations and applied research focused on the key challenges facing organisations in health, well-being, and development.
Before re-joining RAND, Ling was head of Impact Innovation and Evidence at Save the Children where his responsibilities included ensuring that evaluations contribute to policy and change in the challenging environment of international development. Prior to Save the Children, Ling spent 10 years at RAND Europe as director for Evaluation and Performance Audit following four years as senior research fellow at the National Audit Office in the UK. Before that he taught and researched in various universities.
He has contributed to research projects with the European Commission, Save the Children, UK government departments, the National Audit Office, the Health Foundation in the UK and many others. He has published widely on evaluation, accountability, and related topics. He recently co-edited Performance Audit: Contributing to Accountability in Democratic Government (London: Edward Elgar), following his Performance Audit Handbook and The Evidence Book, a critical examination of the use of evidence in public policy and service delivery.
Most commonly his evaluations have been mixed methods evaluations, often combining impact evaluations with process evaluations. These have included the evaluation of the Integrated Care Pilots using a difference in differences approach and supporting the design of a stepped wedge evaluation for an integrated nutrition programme.
Selected Publications
Kriznik N.M., A.L. Kinmonth, T. Ling, M.P. Kelly, "Moving beyond individual choice in policies to reduce health inequalities: the integration of dynamic with individual explanations," Journal of Public Health, 2018 (forthcoming)
Winpenny, E M, Corbett, J, Miani, C, King, S, Pitchforth, E, Ling, T, van Teijlingen, E and Nolte, E, "Community Hospitals in Selected High Income Countries: A Scoping Review of Approaches and Models," International Journal of Integrated Care, 2016
Tom Ling "Achieving equality at scale through system transformation; evaluating system change," in Kim Forss and Mita Marra, Speaking Justice to Power Ethical and Methodological Challenges for Evaluators Comparative Policy Evaluation, Transaction Press, 2013
Tom Ling and Jeremy Lonsdale, Performance Auditing and Accountability to Parliament in the UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011
Stephanie Diepeveen, Tom Ling, Marc Suhrcke, Martin Roland, Theresa M Marteau, "Public acceptability of government intervention to change health-related behaviours: a systematic review and narrative synthesis," International Journal of Integrated Care, 2013
T Ling, "Evaluating complex and unfolding interventions in real time," Evaluation, 18(1), 2012
David Melzer et al., "Pharmacogenetics: Policy Needs for Personal Prescribing," Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 10(1), 2005
Tom Ling, "Ex Ante Evaluation and the Changing Public Audit Function: The Scenario Planning Approach," Evaluation, 9(4), 2003
