IEMA Impact Assessment Outlook Journal Volume 13: Social Impact Assessment - April 2022

Social Impact Assessment (SIA) has emerged as a key area of impact assessment practice over the past 40 years and has been described by the International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA) as being the process of identifying and managing the social issues of project development and includes the effective engagement of affected communities in participatory processes of identification, assessment, and management of social impacts.

IEMA are delighted to publish Volume 13 of the Outlook Journal to inspire practitioners on Social Impact Assessment (SIA). This Volume provides examples of practice from across the UK, Ireland and international practice and seeks to challenge practitioners to move their approaches forward, embracing opportunities for innovation.

Given the twin pressures of climate and nature emergency at the same time as major societal upheaval, the role of SIA should be more important now than ever before. However, practice in the UK and Ireland has not kept pace with SIA practice internationally with variable and often poor consideration of social impacts on affected communities and vulnerable groups within much of EIA practice.

In this thirteenth volume of the Impact Assessment Outlook Journal, the articles explore examples of social impact assessment to aid practitioners through guidance and advice on this complex area of practice. Created in partnership with the IEMA Socail Impact Assessment working group and Guest Edited by Eddie Smyth (Intersocial Limited (Ireland)). This IA Outlook Journal is a welcome addition for anyone working within, or interested in, social impact assessment.

“International practice has advanced significantly in the assessment of the social impacts of projects, in the UK and Ireland we have fallen behind. IEMA is committed to strengthening social impact assessment in the UK and Ireland”

Dr. R.A.Howard FIEMA CEnv, IEMA Impact Assessment Policy Lead

“It is clear from this series of articles that SIA is still an emerging area of practice with considerable potential to balance the traditional focus on economic and environmental impacts with those on people.”

Eddie Smyth BSc, MSc Director at Intersocial Limited (Ireland)

Click here to download your free copy of Volume 13: Social Impact Assessment.