Sustaining social licence—the application of social impact assessment across the operational lifecycle

Sheridan Coakes has more than 15 years’ research and applied experience in the areas of social impact assessment and community involvement. Sheridan has a PhD in community psychology and an honours degree in psychology from Curtin University, and has worked extensively with industry, government and rural and urban communities across Australia. In 1997, Sheridan established Coakes Consulting, a specialist social consultancy developed to address social and community issues within a resource management context. The company developed largely out of a need for companies and agencies to address social and economic issues and concerns in project and policy development planning, and followed on from Sheridan’s role with the Commonwealth Government in designing and implementing the social assessment methodology for the Australian Regional Forest Agreement Process—one of the most significant applications of social assessment by government at a national level. Now, as one of only a handful of specialist social consultants in this field in Australia, Sheridan has a sound reputation for international best practice SIA, and is actively sought out for this particular expertise. Such a reputation has been developed by working collaboratively and effectively with stakeholders from government, industry and community at local, regional and national levels, and through participation in further developing the SIA agenda and practice both nationally and internationally. Sheridan has developed and refined a unique approach to SIA and community engagement practice that has been applied in numerous large-scale and controversial public and private sector projects within the areas of fisheries, viticulture, dairy deregulation, water resource management, agriculture, biotechnology, linear infrastructure developments, quarrying and sand mining, on-shore and off-shore oil and gas, open cut and underground mining, and waste management. As a recognised industry thought leader, Sheridan has also published and presented papers and seminars on social assessment and community involvement in a variety of different forums, contributing to four international texts on social assessment and engagement practice. She is also the principal author of the statistical text SPSS: Analysis without Anguish, now in its twentieth edition and published by Wiley, which is commonly used by university students enrolled in research methods courses across business, health, social and environmental science disciplines. In August 2013, Sheridan merged her business with Umwelt Australia—an environmental consultancy with offices located in Perth, Newcastle and Canberra—to provide more integrated environmental and social services to clients across Australia.

scoakes@umwelt.com.au

Karen Lamb has had a varied background with degree qualifications in resources and environmental management and subsequent postgraduate qualifications in environmental law and international and community development. Her previous roles—spanning environmental management, social impact assessment, environmental law, and policy and international and community development—have provided Karen with a range of experience working on development projects both within Australia and overseas including Bangladesh, Colombia, Vietnam, Malaysia and China. As a result, Karen is accustomed to engaging with stakeholders with diverse ethnic backgrounds. With a dual background in both the environmental and social sciences, Karen has managed multi-disciplinary projects and has prepared and implemented a range of social and environmental impact assessments and management programs, and community consultation programs for clients including Chevron Australia, INPEX, MMG Limited, Iluka Resources and the Bunbury Port Authority. Karen has also facilitated a range of community and stakeholder consultation activities in the developing world. Her international experience has focused particularly on the development of social impact assessment programs (in line with the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and International Finance Corporation guidelines) for mining, port and rail infrastructure projects, and resettlement planning activities. Having also worked for a number of government agencies/centres and not-for-profit associations in policy/program roles she is very familiar with policy and program development and the establishment of agency/community partnerships.

klamb@umwelt.com.au