About the peer learning groups

The peer learning groups provide a platform for researchers, policy-makers and practitioners across different sectors to share experiences, lessons learned and best practices across outcome-based approaches. The groups are open to veterans of outcome-based approaches as well as people with less experience within government, provider organisations, academia and other sectors. Each group has its own identity, in terms of group membership and means of convening sessions. Please find brief descriptions of each group below.

To join a peer learning group or if you have a general enquiry about the groups please contact golab@bsg.ox.ac.uk. Descriptions of each group along with contact details for the group's coordinator can be found below.

Engaging with Evidence is a series of interactive online convenings hosted by the GO Lab and designed to encourage a greater understanding of the latest evidence on the use of cross-sector partnerships focused on outcomes. This webinar series offer an open platform for policymakers, practitioners and researchers around the world to engage with key findings from the latest research and evaluation work in the field.

Our sessions are moderated by Jessica Reedy, Policy Engagement and Communications Associate (GO Lab). All sessions are free to attend and open to all, but will be of particular interest to policymakers and other practitioners interested in developing sustainable, system-wide outcomes-based approaches.  

Explore the Engaging with Evidence page to read more about our sessions and book your place.

The Formal-relational Government Contracting Roundtable (ForeGRound) is an international group of academics, policymakers and practitioners interested in understanding the potential and challenges to a formal relational contracting approach in the public sector.

Formal-relational contracting is an emerging approach to governing complex partnerships. It leverages shared goals and principles, alongside governance procedures, to ensure that the formal contract complements the informal relationships between parties, allowing them to work together productively and adapt amidst uncertainty.

The Government Outcomes Lab acts as the secretariat for ForeGRound. We organised the inaugural session in Oxford in September 2023, and provide ongoing support to communication and future meetings of the group.

If you would like to find out more about the group, including how you can join future sessions, please contact Michael Gibson at michael.gibson@bsg.ox.ac.uk.

The Oxford Procurement of Government Outcomes Club (Oxford POGO Club) is a knowledge sharing initiative that is open to anyone interested in capacity building in public procurement and in collaboration to improve social outcomes. We host monthly calls, maintain a maillist, and share other resources. Participants come from many different disciplines, sectors, and countries. Our chair is Anne Davies, Professor of Law and Public Policy.     

Interested? Join the mailing list by emailing Ruairi Macdonald or Jonathan Davies. Find us on LinkedIn here.

The International Network for Data on Impact and Government Outcomes (INDIGO) peer learning group is about building shared culture and standards around data in social outcome-based projects. The group meets quarterly and is a forum for civic tech enthusiasts, policy-makers and other actors in cross-sector partnerships for social outcomes to work together towards better data for better social outcomes. The sessions are run by Mara Airoldi, GO Lab Academic Director, Juliana Outes Velarde, GO Lab Senior Data Steward and Srinithya Nagarajan, GO Lab Policy Engagement and Communications Associate. Read more about the INDIGO initiative here.

Interested? To join the mailing list and register to our quarterly online meetings, please email indigo@bsg.ox.ac.uk.

The Research Forum on Outcomes in Cross-Sector Collaboration is a gathering of researchers whose work engages with, or relates to, outcomes-based approaches to public service provision. Every two months, the Forum hosts a guest speaker to present an aspect of their research or talk through a particular issue that is influencing their work. The research forum is co-hosted by the Government Outcomes Lab, University of Oxford, and The Center for Research on Public-Private Collaboration, Roskilde University.

Research Forum meetings are one hour and 15 minutes long, and are held online on the last Friday of every other month. They are free to attend, and anyone who is interested is welcome to join. The target audience is principally researchers, however, and these sessions will particularly appeal to members of academic institutions, consultancies, and/or think tanks, whose work relates to the above outlined themes.

If you are interested in presenting at the Forum please contact Eleanor Carter, Research Director at the Government Outcomes Lab, or Ole Helby Petersen, Director of The Center for Research on Public-Private Collaboration, Roskilde University.

The Value in Public Finance peer learning group provides a platform for those in government, academia, private and other sectors to discuss and explore ways to improve value creation of public expenditure. This peer learning group aims to create a community of individuals and organisations interested in improving public finance and how economies perform. We are an inclusive group of thinkers and practitioners and would welcome international engagement on the above themes as well as any others.

The group meets quarterly and is co-organised by the GO Lab and Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). The sessions are co-chaired by Jeffrey Matsu.

The Motives for Measurement Peer Learning Group is a knowledge sharing initiative that is open to anyone interested in exploring the reasons for measuring social outcomes, and the various means of doing so. In particular, we explore how measurement can be useful for two purposes which can sometimes conflict. The first is to support ongoing learning and adaptation in the pursuit of better outcomes, often across multiple organisations. The second is to support transparent accounts of the success or failure of those efforts. 

The group is run by the GO Lab and Collaborate CIC, a practice organisation who help public services collaborate to tackle complex social challenges. We have gathered together a core community of practitioners from across sectors who are interested in resolving the tension in motives for measurement. We will meet regularly online to hear examples of places that are using measurement in smart ways to support both learning and accountability. Members are invited to propose topics for discussion. 

To join the group and be added to the mailing list to hear about future meetings, please email Nigel Ball (GO Lab) or Dawn Plimmer (Collaborate CIC).

In collaboration with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, The National Lottery Foundation and Ecorys, the GO Lab supported the creation of a network of geographically focused peer learning groups across England. Initially established to support commissioners and service providers applying for funding or implementing projects within the UK’s Commissioning Better Outcomes fund and/or the Life Chances Fund, the groups expanded to include organisations interested in outcomes-based contracting more broadly across a specific geography. By focusing on specific geographical areas, these peer learning groups supported practitioners navigate the unique contextual challenges of delivering an outcome-based contract within a given geography.

The ERGO peer learning group provided a platform for those in government, provider organisations, academia and other sectors to share their experience in dealing with emergency or disaster responses, and reflect on the wider implications for outcomes-based approaches. This group was launched at a time when public, private and social sector organisations were having to rapidly adapt their relationships to meet new challenges caused by the global coronavirus outbreak. Details of ERGO's core themes can be found here. 

Resource library

For further reading materials, you can find the latest reports and publications on outcomes-based commissioning and SIBs in the GO Lab resource library.