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 Ben Cave and Board Directors Takehiko Murayama and Eddie Smyth. Learn more about these three new Board members below.
Ben, Takehiko, and Eddie 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.
Ben Cave has 20 years’ practice in impact assessment, working across health and environmental assessment with industry, government, financial institutions, and civil society. During his 14 years as an IAIA member, he has chaired the Health Section and the Sections Coordinating Committee and worked with IAIA Branches and Affiliates.
Ben’s goal during his time as President is to build links with other sectors and organizations. He plans to be vocal and visible in growing the organization and in expanding IAIA’s influence. He will also work to ensure that IAIA provides value to its members, that IAIA is supportive to practitioners early in their careers, and that it is a useful sounding board for those with more experience.
Takehiko Murayama is currently a professor in the School of Environment and Society at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. His research focuses on environmental planning and policy, such as environmental impact assessment, risk management, and consensus building with stakeholders. He also works as chair of an advisory panel on environmental and social consideration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), as a member of the committee on EIA of the Central Environment Council, and as co-chair of policy dialogue on chemical management with the Japan Ministry of the Environment. As a member of IAIA since the mid-2000s, Takehiko has participated in many annual conferences as a presenter, panelist, and even as organizing committee co-chair for IAIA16. He also serves as secretary-general of the IAIA Japan Branch and vice president of the Japan Society for Impact Assessment.
In his role on the Board, Takehiko hopes to promote the advantages of diversities among IAIA members—generational, affiliation, sectors, etc.—by expanding collaboration in the Association’s activities.
Eddie Smyth is a social and environmental expert with 25 years’ experience working on impact assessment and implementation on complex social projects in 35 countries. He has had three careers: as an environmentalist in Ireland and the UK advising farmers on agri-environmental schemes, volunteering with community-based organizations in Burkina Faso for two years and managing an international NGO in Ghana for three years, and, working as a social/resettlement expert on 26 projects internationally for the past 12 years. Eddie is passionate about improving practice in impact assessment and has organized training courses in social and resettlement issues for 800 participants in 11 countries. As an IAIA member since attending his first conference in Ghana in 2009, Eddie has served as a pre-conference trainer, chaired conference sessions, and helped organize the two IAIA Resettlement Symposia.
As a Board member, Eddie will continue to explore ways of bringing social and environmental practitioners closer together and promote the sharing of the outcomes of impact assessment.
