IAIA welcomes new Board members
IAIA is pleased to share the results of our recent Board of Directors election. Please join us in welcoming President-Elect Lone Kørnøv and Board Directors Abulele Adams and Joana Pedro. Learn more about these three new Board members below.
Lone, Abulele, and Joana 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 thanks to all candidates who stood for election and for all members who took time to cast their votes.
With a 28-year career as a dedicated environmental engineer, Professor at Aalborg University, Head of The Danish Centre for Environmental Assessment (DCEA), and Director of the consultancy, Collabora ApS, Lone Kørnøv’s expertise spans impact assessment, planning, governance, and stakeholder-engagement. In recent years, her focus has expanded to include digitalization and SDGs. Lone has a background in management and leadership roles, with a focus on research, innovation, capacity building, and professional training. Lone believes IAIA’s relevance is clear in today’s landscape, demanding expertise, collaboration, and innovation for sustainability challenges. She views IAIA as a unique platform, poised for expansive outreach to influential organizations globally. Beyond IAIA’s commitment to outreach, Lone’s vision for her time leading the Board centers around four key themes: Propelling digitalization, linking impact assessment to taxonomies for sustainable finances, bridging the gap between IA research and practical application, and continuing to actively involve the next generation.
Abulele Adams has worked as an environmental scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa since January 2014. She holds a MSc in Geography and a BSc in environmental science with Honors in Geographic Information Systems. She has also completed a year of courses in a Sustainability Economics and Management Masters program. Abulele’s work has been focused on sustainably expanding renewable energy development in South Africa. She has worked on several National Strategic Infrastructure Projects including the Phase 1 and Phase 2 National Wind & Solar PV Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and the Electricity Grid Infrastructure SEA. She also worked on a municipal capacity and partnership program which aims at collaborating with local municipalities to increase capacity in strategic planning. Abulele welcomes the opportunity to contribute towards the growth of IAIA to ensure there is continued visibility through targeted content and a stronger social media presence and to ensure there is inclusive growth and representation in the Association. She is also keen for IAIA to work more closely with affiliate countries (as she is a past president of IAIAsa, our affiliate in South Africa!).
Joana Pedro started her career in Southern Africa, where for almost a decade she conducted Environmental and Social Impacts Assessments and Resettlement Action Plans. From an early stage in her career, she understood that environment and social justice are tightly intertwined and that engaging and working with communities is a crucial aspect of IA. This led her to supplement her Environmental Engineering degree with International Development and Human Rights studies. Currently, Joana leads the social and human rights team at the United Nation Environmental Program – Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), where she works on the interlinkages between human rights, social, environment, and finance, with a focus on financing a Just Transition. Prior to UNEP FI, she worked at the European Investment Bank (EIB) conducting social due diligence worldwide and developing policy work and authoring EIB’s Involuntary Resettlement Standard. Joana looks forward to bringing her expertise and enthusiasm to IAIA’s ongoing efforts to build bridges between social and environmental aspects within IA. She also sees this position as an opportunity to explore ways to better incorporate voices from the ground into the IA debate and its methodologies, in particular of those most vulnerable.
