Email d.de.souza@nus.edu.sg

The evaluation of public health programs is a multi-layered process that entails collaboration with stakeholders to examine existing policy frameworks, initiate new interventions, monitor their implementation, and assess how these activities, given the available resources, contribute to more desired public health outcomes.

Denise De Souza is currently a research fellow at the Centre for Health Interventions and Policy Evaluation Research (HIPER). She and her colleagues at HIPER collaborate to establish the merit, worth and effectiveness of public health programs to ensure that programs are being delivered in a manner that align with their intended goals and that public health systems demonstrate accountability and transparency in their processes.

• NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health

• Program Evaluation
• Education

• PhD. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Master of Evaluation. University of Melbourne, Australia
• Master of Education. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Postgraduate Diploma in Education. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• B. Soc. Sc. University of Glasgow, Scotland

• RESEARCH FELLOW | Torrens University Australia, Flinders Street Campus, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | Jan 2023 – April 2025|
• POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW | Torrens University Australia, Flinders Street Campus, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | Apr 2019 – Jun 2022|
• FULL-TIME LECTURER | Language and Communication Centre, NTU| Singapore| Jan 2016 – Mar 2019|
• PART-TIME CONSULTANT/LECTURER (SESSIONAL STAFF) | NIE, NTU and Centre for English Language Communication, National University of Singapore| Singapore| Aug 2014 – Dec 2015|

• Feb 2024 to April 2025 – Institutional Human Research Ethics Committee Member (Torrens University Australia)
• May 2023 to April 2025 – Low and Negligible Risk Research Ethics Panel Reviewer (Torrens University Australia)
• 2022 to 2023 – Affiliate of the Integrated Care and Family Hub models for detecting and responding to Family Adversity Project, a research collaboration between the New South Wales Government and the Centre for Research Excellence in Childhood Adversity and Mental Health in Victoria
• 2019 to 2022 – Affiliate of the Healthy Homes and Neighbourhoods (HHAN) Integrated Care Initiative by Sydney Local Health District, Australia

• De Souza, D. E. (2022). A critical realist approach to systems thinking in evaluation. Evaluation, 28(1), 72- 90.
• De Souza, D.E. (2013). Elaborating the Context-Mechanism-Outcome configuration (CMOc) in Realist Evaluation: A Critical Realist perspective. Evaluation, 19(2), 141-154.
• De Souza, D.E. & Vongalis-Macrow, A. (2021). Evaluating a pilot education-to-work program for adults with Down syndrome, Studies in Educational Evaluation, 70, 101016.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2021.101016
• De Souza, D.E. (2016). Critical realism and Realist review: Analysing complexity in educational restructuring and the limits of generalizing program theories across borders. American Journal of Evaluation, 37(2),216-237.
• De Souza, D. E., Pablo, Z., Sarker, D., von Fürstenberg, M. T., Urzua, A. R., Aston, D., Banks, J., Camedda, D., & Shevlin, M. (2024). Critical networks: Embedding programmes for individuals with intellectual impairments in university contexts in Chile, Ireland and Australia. Disability & Society, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2024.2435418
• De Souza, D., Pablo, Z., Shevlin, M., von Fürstenberg, M. T., Banks, J., Sarker, D., Alejandra Rios Urzua, Camedda, D., & Aston, D. (2024). Preconditions influencing the development of post-secondary training programs in universities for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 49(1), 95- 106.
• De Souza, D. E., Pablo, Z., Sarker, D., von Fürstenberg, M. T., Urzua, A. R., Aston, D., Banks, J., Camedda, D., & Shevlin, M. (Accepted). A SWOT Analysis of 3 Programmes in Higher Education Settings in Chile, Ireland and Australia for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities. British Journal of Learning Disabilities. Special Issue.
• De Souza, D.E. (2018). Educational change in Singapore and its ‘tinkering’ around the edges: A critical realist perspective. Journal of Educational Change, 19(1), 19-49.
• De Souza, D.E. (2014). Culture, context and society – The underexplored potential of Critical Realism as a philosophical framework for theory and practice. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 17(2), 141-151.
• Eastwood, J.G., De Souza, D.E., Mukumbang, F.C. (2025). Realist Research and Evaluation Designs for Integrated Care Initiatives. In: Amelung, V., Stein, V., Suter, E., Goodwin, N., Balicer, R., Beese, AS. (eds) Handbook of Integrated Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25376-8_37-1
• Mukumbang, F. C., De Souza, D., Liu, H., Uribe, G., Moore, C., Fotheringham, P., & Eastwood, J. G. (2022). Unpacking the design, implementation and uptake of community-integrated health care services: a critical realist synthesis. BMJ Global Health, 7(8), e009129.
• Eastwood, J. G., De Souza, D.E., Shaw, M., Garg, P., Woolfenden, S., Tyler, I., & Kemp, L. A. (2019). Designing initiatives for vulnerable families: from theory to design in Sydney, Australia. International Journal of Integrated Care, 19(3).
• Mukumbang, F. C., De Souza, D.E., & Eastwood, J. (2023). The contributions of Scientific Realism and Critical Realism to Realist Evaluation. Journal of Critical Realism, 1-21.
• Eastwood, J. G., Mukumbang, F. C., De Souza, D., Liu, H., & Miller, E. (2022). Formulating Initial Programme Theories of the Healthy Homes and Neighbourhoods Integrated Care Initiative. International Journal of Integrated Care, 22(4).
• Honisett, S., Loftus, H., Liu, H., Montgomery, A., De Souza, D., Hall, T., … & Goldfeld, S. (2023). Do Australian policies enable a primary health care system to identify family adversity and subsequently support these families—A scoping study. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 34(1), 211-221.