The webinar is the formal launch of “The State of Digital IA Practice,” featuring its lead researcher and author, Josh Fothergill. This publication by IAIA and FothergillTC is an exploration of progress in digital approaches to impact assessment (IA) with a global perspective. It provides a review of innovation, leadership, and application of digital solutions across the profession. The webinar highlights the pace, scope, and scale of the digital transformation of IA approaches discussing some of the 20+ case examples included in the report.
The webinar presents the report’s definition of digital IA and provides a rapid overview of the 10 elements/themes the report dives into from Inter-IA Environmental and Social Management Systems, Digital Screening Tools and Digital Baseline Capture Devices, through Artificial Intelligence and Digital IA workspaces, to Virtual, Augmented & Mixed Realities, Online learning, and Digital Follow-up. Risks, benefits, and barriers related to the application of digital approaches in IA is discussed, alongside a brief consideration of what this could mean for IA’s long-term future.
Josh is an Impact Assessment (IA) expert and regularly leads in-depth review projects into IA systems, including The State of UK EIA Practice (2011), the UK’s Proportionate EIA Strategy (2017), Global EIA Accreditation Systems (2019), and Linking the Circular Economy & IA (2021). He currently acts as an independent IA expert and capacity-building consultant—via his consultancy FothergillTC—having previously spent a decade leading IA at the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA).
This publication was funded by IAIA’s Innovation Grant program.