Health Impact Assessment at a crossroads: Reflecting on current practice and looking to the future
This webinar is free and open to all.
Over the past decade, health impact assessment (HIA) practice has steadily increased across the UK. Stronger mandates for health within environmental impact assessment, requirements within local planning, and institutionalisation within public bodies, particularly in Wales, have helped to drive this growth. Despite this progress, important challenges remain including variation in quality, inconsistencies in how health is considered across sectors and jurisdictions, and limited evidence demonstrating the long-term impact HIAs have on population health and wellbeing.
With the new Handbook of HIA being published this year, and a move to Environmental Outcome Reporting in England expected next year, there are opportunities to both expand and improve HIA practice. Drawing on recent UK case studies, this session will explore the current state of HIA, examine emerging trends and challenges, and consider the opportunities and risks for long-term sustainability in the UK.
This webinar has been organised by the IES's EIA Community, which provides a forum for thought-provoking, critical conversations around EIA from a science-based perspective. The Community aims to connect and support environmental scientists and practitioners working across a range of specialisms involved in the EIA process.
This webinar is free and open to all.
Our speaker
Dr Katie Hirono is an international expert specialised in health impact assessment (HIA), health inequalities, public participation and health policy and leads the Tetra Tech Health and Social Impact team. She has 15 years’ experience working in the US, Australia, Latin America, Ireland and the UK and has contributed to over 100 health assessments across a range of sectors. Dr Hirono works with the private and public sectors to integrate health into decision-making, including for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for major infrastructure schemes. She also advises professional bodies on good practice and has led capacity building on HIA for Public Health Authorities. Dr Hirono is an Affiliate at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, and an Adjunct Fellow at the University of New South Wales. She is a trained social scientist and holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in Global Health Policy and a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan.
Header image credit: (c) Anselm via Adobe Stock
