Maciej Szałaj

Maciej Szałaj graduated from Warsaw University (major in sociology) and completed a postgraduate programme in project management at the Warsaw School of Economics. He is employed as a senior expert in the Evaluation Section of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. He participated in creating one of the first evaluation units in Polish public administration and took an active part in developing the system of EU structural funds evaluation at the national level. He is a member of the SOP/HRD (Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development) and the OP/HC (Operational Programme Human Capital) Evaluation Steering Groups. He has been in charge of managing a number of evaluations in the area of pre-accesion and structural funds programmes. He specializes in interventions supporting the SME sector and measures aimed at developing the adaptability of enterprises.

He is an organizer of the annual Evaluation Conference. He has written many articles exploring various issues linked with evaluation practice and theory and contributed to the first Polish academic handbook on evaluation. He also serves as an academic teacher and public administration trainer. As a panelist, he has participated in several seminars and conferences, including the European Evaluation Society’s Conference – Building for the future: Evaluation in governance, development and progress (Lisbon, 2008).