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Tuesday, May 12, 12:00 - 1:00 Atlantic

IA EXPERIENCES, LESSONS, FUTURE DIRECTIONS: INSIGHTS FROM AN (ONGOING) ATLANTIC CANADA RESEARCH PROGRAM, presented by Dr. Steve Bonnell, Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland.  

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Atlantic Canada holds significant IA experience, with a large and active community of IA practitioners, regulators, and participants working across various IA processes, development types, and associated environmental and socioeconomic issues.  The region’s IA experience can play a key role in the ongoing development and refinement of IA theory and in continued improvements to practice, but has been (relatively) underrepresented in IA research and the associated scholarly literature to date.

This presentation will provide an overview of the goals, methods, and findings of three recently completed or ongoing Atlantic Canada IA research initiatives:

1. IA as Planning not Permitting: 2025 surveys of proponents, consultants, and regulators that investigated procedural, practical, and behavioural factors that influence IA’s ability to inform and improve project design.

2. Strategic and Regional Assessments: 2025 workshops with IA regulators around whether and how these assessments can contribute to the scoping of subsequent project IAs.

3. IA Efficiency: 2026 surveys of IA participants on the required type / volume of EIS information, and associated motivations for these views and preferences.

A focus of the discussion will be on how key issues in current IA processes have influenced the research, as well as the potential for its findings to, in turn, inform and improve future practice in Atlantic Canada and beyond.

Dr. Steve Bonnell, Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Dr. Steve Bonnell has over 25 years' experience in the field of impact assessment (IA), having worked in industry, government and academia as an IA practitioner, researcher, and teacher.  This includes extensive involvement in the planning and conduct of IAs and associated environmental and socioeconomic studies, effects analysis, and engagement programs for proposed developments in Atlantic Canada and beyond.  He holds a PhD in IA from the University of Dundee, Scotland, as well as Bachelors and Masters degrees in Geography from Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he is currently an Adjunct Professor. Dr. Bonnell has published and presented extensively in these areas, with a key focus on improving the efficacy of IA processes, the intersection of IA and planning, and the associated use of strategic and regional assessments.