Managing complex assessment interventions within higher education is especially challenging given transparency, accountability, equity, and value for money agendas impacting higher education (Caspersen, Smeby, & Aamodt, 2017; Mountford-Zimdars, Sabri, Moore, Sanders, Jones, & Higham, 2015). Institutional responses to such agendas directly impact work at the project implementation level requiring increasing agility and adaptability in the current HE climate.

This paper highlights the importance of evaluative processes as a central component of project design. We describe a process to explore the experiences of those leading and managing a complex assessment intervention focused on promoting the self-regulatory development of undergraduate students in three higher education institutions in the UK. In doing so, it highlights the importance of an iterative evaluative approach embedded within the project design and the complexities inherent in trying to implement the project in practice, mindful of the need for rigour regarding the use of data, choice of methodologies, and inferences that could reasonably be deduced from the research. The need for ongoing evaluation as integral to project management is highlighted. Tools and approaches to support this evaluative process as part of 'research within research' will be elucidated and shared.