Chris Barnett is the Director for Technical Excellence at Itad, a consultancy specializing in monitoring, evaluation, and learning services in international development. He holds an Honorary Associate position at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and has previously served as the Director of the Centre for Development Impact (CDI), a collaboration between IDS, the University of East Anglia, and Itad.

His expertise lies in impact evaluation and various evaluative methodologies, with a specific focus on governance, civil society, and livelihoods. Chris has a wealth of experience as a team leader and director of numerous evaluations, including the design of performance management systems.

Notable projects Chris has led include serving as the Project Director for the Impact Evaluation of the Millennium Villages Project in northern Ghana from 2012 to 2017 and as the Project Director for the Longitudinal Study of CDC from 2017 to 2027. He has also held the role of Team Leader for the Independent Impact Evaluation Agent (IIEA) for Tilitonse, assessing the impact of a £12.5 million civil society fund in Malawi. Additionally, he has contributed to 'Ideas to Impact,' a multimillion-pound program evaluating the use of prizes to benefit marginalized communities.

His past engagements encompass governance initiatives in West Africa such as the Strengthening Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness program in Ghana (STAR-Ghana), the State Voice and Accountability Initiative (SAVI), and the Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Capability (SPARC) in Nigeria. Chris is deeply interested in feedback loops, participatory approaches, evaluation ethics, governance, and measuring social impact to support market-oriented solutions for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Educationally, Chris holds a Master's Degree in Rural Development, a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Development Studies from the University of Sussex, and a Bachelor's Degree in Land Management from the University of Reading.