People working in evidence-based management can sometimes feel like they are swimming against the tide. But they are part of something much larger.

In this episode we hear from science journalist Helen Pearson about her new book Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works.

The conversation steps back from evidence-based management to look at the much wider evidence movement that has been unfolding across disciplines over the past few decades. From medicine and social policy to policing, conservation and business, researchers and practitioners have been grappling with the same question: how do we know what really works?

Helen traces the origins of the modern evidence movement, beginning with the pioneers of evidence-based medicine in the late twentieth century, and explains how ideas such as randomized trials and systematic reviews spread across many other fields.

The discussion explores:

• The origins of evidence-based medicine and the role of pioneers like Iain Chalmers and David Sackett
• How ideas from medicine influenced other domains including policy, policing and management
• Why early advocates of evidence often worked in isolation across different disciplines
• Why evidence-based management faces particular challenges in bridging research and practice
• The current “crisis of evidence” and the forces shaping trust in science today
• Why teaching evidence literacy and critical thinking may be one of the most powerful tools for the future

Helen also shares practical advice for anyone wanting to think more critically about claims and evidence in everyday life.

For students and teachers of evidence-based management, the episode offers a reminder that they are part of a much broader international movement seeking to improve decisions through better use of evidence.

Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works will be published in April 2026.

Host:

Karen Plum

Guest:

Helen Pearson, Senior Editor, Nature, Honorary Professor of Practice, UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies

Click here for more details about Helen's book.

Contact:

Eric Barends, Managing Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Management

Working with evidence-based management can be uncomfortable. It asks people to sit with uncertainty rather than reach for certainty — something many of us are rewarded for in organisational life.

This conversation explores what that discomfort looks like in practice, and how uncertainty shows up when people engage seriously with evidence — whether they are managers making decisions, students learning to apply evidence, or educators supporting that learning. The discussion ranges across research, teaching, and organisational decision-making, touching on credibility, confidence, risk, and the realities of working with evidence in complex, high-stakes environments.

Rather than offering tools or prescriptions, the episode stays with the experience of uncertainty itself — including where it becomes personally or professionally risky, and where it can open up better questions, more careful judgement, and new possibilities when people are willing to stay with it.

This is not a “how-to” episode. It’s an opportunity to listen in as experienced educators and practitioners think together about uncertainty, without rushing to certainty.

Host:
Karen Plum

Guests:

• Eric Barends - Managing Director, Center of Evidence-Based Management
• Denise Rousseau, H J Heinz University Professor, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, USA
• Preston Davis, Clinical Assistant Professor of Management, Coles College, Kennesaw State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Contact:

Eric Barends, Managing Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Management

This episode was recorded live with three evidence-based management experts, Denise Rousseau, Rob Briner and Eric Barends, answering and discussing questions sent in by teachers and students of the subject.

During the disucssion, we touched on many aspects of evidence-based management, including:

• Starting with basic principles rather than complex frameworks makes evidence-based management accessible to busy professionals
• Problem identification is the most critical and often overlooked step in the evidence-based management process
• AI tools can support evidence-based decisions but require specific prompting and critical evaluation of outputs
• Evidence-based management works best as a team sport where colleagues help identify each other's blind spots - including biases
• Rather than trying to build a whole evidence-based culture, start with your sphere of influence and share evidence supportively
• Building evidence-based practices requires social networks of support within and outside organizations

If you have questions about evidence-based management that you'd like addressed in future episodes, please send them to us. We're planning to make "Ask the experts" a regular feature of the podcast.

Host:

Karen Plum

Guests:

• Eric Barends - Managing Director, Center of Evidence-Based Management
• Denise Rousseau, H J Heinz University Professor, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, USA
• Rob Briner, Professor of Organisational Psychology, Queen Mary University of London; Associate Research Director at Corporate Research Forum

Contact:

Eric Barends, Managing Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Management