Book Launch: “From Algorithms to Evidence: Using GenAI in Evaluation Practice”
The MERL Tech Community of Practice is proud to host the online launch of “From Algorithms to Evidence: Using GenAI in Evaluation Practice”, a new book edited by Kerry Bruce, Valentine J Gandhi, and Steffen Bohni Nielsen. Join us on November 04, at 12pm New York/5pm London.
Published by Routledge in August 2026, “From Algorithms to Evidence” focuses on the use of GenAI in evaluation practice. With the rapid proliferation of GenAI in evaluation, editors Kerry Bruce, Valentine J Gandhi, and Steffen Bohni Nielsen posit that we are currently facing one of those pivotal moments where it is time to reflect on the potentials and perils of using these technologies. Given evaluation’s long history of case‑based learning in scientific journals and curricula, they have invited contributors from across the sector to bring use cases as heuristics to reflect, appraise, and learn with and from peers.
Ultimately, the book argues that “GenAI is prompting a fundamental reconfiguration of evaluation methodology toward hybrid human–AI designs, intensifying rather than diminishing the need for professional evaluative judgment.”
On November 04, at 12pm New York/5pm London, we will be joined by Kerry Bruce, Valentine J Gandhi, and Steffen Bohni Nielsen for a conversation about how evaluators across the globe are using GenAI, how it has failed, how it has succeeded, and what is next for the sector.
About the book
From Algorithms to Evidence: Using GenAI in Evaluation Practice offers a timely, practice-grounded guide for evaluators and development professionals navigating the fast-moving world of generative AI. Building on the foundations laid in Artificial Intelligence and Evaluation (2025), this volume moves decisively from theory to application. It documents how evaluators across the globe are already using GenAI in real projects, showing not only what worked but also what failed, why, and under what conditions. The result is a clear, practitioner-centered resource that cuts through hype and provides grounded, real-world insight.
Structured around the seven phases of the evaluation lifecycle (design, structuring and inception, data collection, data analysis, reporting, judgment, and utilization), this book offers concrete examples of how GenAI is being integrated into everyday evaluation tasks. Contributors explain their rationale for using AI tools, the steps they took, and the results they achieved. Crosscutting chapters synthesize lessons on methodological adaptation, evolving evaluator competencies, and the ethical and professional standards needed to use GenAI responsibly. Throughout, this volume emphasizes ‘hybrid intelligence,’ showing how human expertise and AI-enabled methods can work together to strengthen evaluative reasoning.
Clear, accessible, and grounded in real practice, From Algorithms to Evidence fills a critical gap in the literature. It provides evaluators, policymakers, and organizational leaders with practical guidance for building more adaptive, data-informed, and future-ready evaluation systems while keeping equity, transparency, and human judgment at the center of their work.
About the editors
Kerry Bruce (she/her) is the CEO of ClearUp Consulting, a woman-owned technical firm that works across sectors to provide monitoring, evaluation, research and learning services with a focus on emerging technologies. With over 30 years of global experience in public health and international development, she brings deep expertise in quantitative and qualitative methods, AI for evaluation, and digital health. Kerry serves on MTI’s NLP-CoP Steering Committee and has led work comparing LLM-assisted and traditional qualitative coding approaches. She is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where she teaches courses in monitoring, evaluation, data analysis and the use of AI in MEL
Valentine J Gandhi is a senior evaluator and policy advisor and Technology expert with over 24 years of experience designing and implementing programs, evaluation, research, digital transformation, and cybersecurity projects for donors, UN agencies, research institutions, and governments in Asia and Africa, and the founder of think-tank The Development CAFÉ. He hosts the European Evaluation Society’s EvalEdge Podcast. We will also have some space to chat collectively about our ideas and hopes for this working group.
Steffen Bohni Nielsen is an experienced executive in the public and private sectors. Expert in the fields of performance management, public management, monitoring and evaluation systems, and evaluation studies. He holds a Ph.D. in social anthropology and currently works as Director General at the Danish National Research Centre for the Working Environment.
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