From an initiative to a broader community #
As EvalEval has grown, so has the range of people, institutions, and projects that make up the Coalition. We began as an initiative incubated by EleutherAI, Hugging Face, and the University of Edinburgh, and have since developed into a broader community (800 strong at the time of this announcement) working across AI evaluation research, infrastructure, events, and engagement with policy and standards. Our new bylaws are intended to make the Coalition’s governance reflect that evolution.
Moving beyond institutional hosts #
A central change is that we are moving away from the concept of institutional “hosts.” Our founding organizations will continue to be recognized for their role in building EvalEval, but they will no longer hold governance authority by virtue of that status. People participate in EvalEval in their individual capacities, and participation does not commit or imply endorsement from their employers. Leadership and decision-making will instead sit with a Steering Committee and Chairs whose responsibilities are defined in the bylaws, alongside explicit conflict-of-interest and recusal requirements.
A new pathway to leadership #
We are also creating Project Leads as a new and important pathway for leadership, open to newly joined members. Any member can develop and propose new work, and approved projects will have a named Project Lead with primary responsibility for carrying the work forward. This is meant to make it easier for researchers across institutions, career stages, and geographies to originate and lead work within EvalEval, rather than requiring every initiative to flow through a small set of organizational leaders. All positions are open to all members of the Coalition and are determined democratically, as set out in the bylaws.
What these changes reaffirm #
These changes reaffirm what we want EvalEval to be: an open, multi-stakeholder, independent research coalition, where people with different institutional affiliations can collaborate while the Coalition’s agenda and positions remain distinct from those of any one employer or partner. The new structure distributes responsibility among the Steering Committee, Chairs, and Project Leads, while requiring broader agreement for decisions that affect the Coalition’s strategic direction, independence, or public positions.
Looking ahead #
We are proud of how far EvalEval has come, and we see these bylaws as infrastructure for the next stage rather than an endpoint. There is much more we want to build, and many more people we hope will build it with us.
Meet our Steering Committee and Chairs on the About page. To get involved, email [email protected].
Resources
1. EvalEval Coalition (2026). Bylaws of the EvalEval Coalition. [PDF](https://evalevalai.com/assets/docs/evaleval-bylaws-2026-09.pdf) .
2. EvalEval Coalition. About: Steering Committee and Chairs. [evalevalai.com/about](https://evalevalai.com/about/) .