Results of IAIA's 2022 election
IAIA is pleased to share the results of the recent Board of Directors election. Join us in welcoming President-Elect/Director Edith Birungi Kahubire and Directors Miguel Repas Goncalves and Kiichiro Hayashi. Learn more about these three new Board members below. Edith, Miguel, and Kiichiro join an active, dedicated, international group of existing Board members. We look forward to working with them in forwarding IAIA’s mission and vision.
We also extend our sincere appreciation to Miles Scott-Brown, Heikki Kalle, and Ernesto Monter who dedicated their time, energy, and enthusiasm in standing for election. They were indeed worthy candidates, and we look forward to their continued engagement with IAIA in the future. Lastly, we want to thank all the members who took time to cast their votes.
Edith Birungi Kahubire has 16 years’ experience undertaking socio-economic, environmental, and social impact assessment studies in different sectors and a track record in due diligence, social monitoring, and mitigation assessment at the multilateral level. She also brings with her a deep understanding of the African Development Bank, World Bank, and IFC Performance standards.
Edith particularly recognizes how important IAIA’s position on the climate emergency, believing there has never been a more opportune moment to solve this complex challenge than now. With her past experience on the IAIA Training and Professional Development Committee (TPDC), she sees immense opportunities to disseminate tools and methods that provide for technological pathways to the future we want.
As President of the IAIA Board, Edith intends to build on the current Board’s achievements with greater focus on critical analysis and reasoning for climate change mitigation. She wants all members to have the ability to undertake careful assessments of climate risks, impacts, and mitigation using cutting edge technology and making it integral to high-level decision-making. She looks forward to working with diverse teams to contribute to the solutions that will stimulate the world’s net zero target.
Miguel Repas Goncalves is an international EIA and Biodiversity practitioner and academic with a strong interest in the role that IA has in de-risking renewable energy projects for the global energy transition. His primary focus has been on bird collision risk mitigation strategies for wind farms and technology-based systems, including radar assisted shutdown on demand, which his team pioneered in 2008 and has since been successfully mitigating bird fatalities in global migratory flyways.
As co-founder and current CEO of STRIX, Miguel has more than 20 years of management, organizational, and leadership experience. STRIX delivers innovative solutions to complex environmental problems for the wind energy sector. Miguel is also committed to building local capacity and mainstreaming EIA globally. As a Visiting Academic at the Institute of Science and Environment of USJ in Macao, he lectures on EIA and Performance Standards in the Master of Environmental Sciences and Management program.
As a Member of the Board, Miguel will contribute to IAIA’s leading role in the energy transition towards net-zero emissions. He sees IA as the fundamental tool for the global deployment of renewable electricity, harnessing its many benefits without loss of biodiversity – a major challenge to decarbonizing global economies.
Kiichiro Hayashi is a Professor at Nagoya University in Japan, where his research focuses on environmental assessment, ecosystem services, and international cooperation.
Kiichiro first participated in IAIA at the 2000 Hong Kong conference and has participated in around 18 IAIA conferences since then. He served as vice chair of the local organizing committee of IAIA16 in Nagoya and has organized an annual Asian SEA/ EIA session since 2005. Kiichiro has published over 100 articles, books, and chapters, including “Chapter 6: SEA in the Asia Region” in the “Handbook of Strategic Environmental Assessment” (2010; edited by B. Sadler, R. Aschemann, J. Dusik, T. Fischer, M. Partidario, R. Verheem). He serves as vice chair of the Advisory Panel on Environmental and Social Consideration in the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and as a member of the IAIA Awards Committee.
During his time on the Board, Kiichiro will use his regional network and knowledge to expand the IA professional network at the global scale, especially in the Asian region. He also hopes to use his current research on ecosystem services and renewable energy to facilitate a bigger focus on this field in IAIA.
