Impact Assessment

Impact Assessment aims to ensure that environmental and social issues are identified and factored in during the development and adoption of public policies and plans, and the consenting of public and private development projects. At its best, Impact Assessment helps ensure social value to communities and economic value to investors, without eroding biodiversity and natural capital, and without pushing beyond environmental limits.

The Impact Assessment Network draws together professionals across all aspects of the discipline to provide leadership and definitive guidance. The role of the steering group is to oversee the delivery of an annual work programme of activities, including webinars, workshops, reports and much more.

Join the Impact Assessment network

Opting to become a member of the network means you'll receive updates about developments in this sphere and the work of the steering group, invitations to apply to join the steering group or get involved in other ways, requests to participate in consultations, and notification of relevant webinars and other ISEP or external events. Use the button below to navigate to the portal and select 'Impact Assessment network' in your subscription preferences.

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Impact Assessment practical guidance

Impact Assessment policy engagement

Impact Assessment outlook journal

Useful definitions

Environmental Impact Assessment

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a decision support tool used by environment and sustainability professionals to ensure that relevant environmental information is available to a decision-maker (usually a local authority or government department), before they decide whether to grant consent for a future development: for example, a major road, large housing estate, industrial facility, power station, etc. Most countries around the world have EIA requirements enshrined in legislation, generally focused on those projects likely to generate significant environmental effects.

International Organisation for Standardization - ISO 14001

ISO 14001 is an internationally recognised EMS standard which provides organisations with a framework to protect the environment, and respond to changing environmental conditions in balance with socioeconomic needs. It specifies requirements that enable an organisation to achieve the intended outcomes that it sets for its environmental management systems.

Impact Assessment steering group members

Mary Mescall

Environmental Planning Associate Director, Stantec

Dr Jessica Salder

Principal Environmental Assessment Officer, Surrey County Council

Charlene Smith

Team Manager, Environment and Resources Directorate, Environment and Resources Authority (Malta)

Mark Cope

Associate Director EIA, RSK Environment Limited

Juliette Callaghan

Partner, Trium Environmental Consulting & Chair of the ISEP Impact Assessment Steering Group

Dan Johnston

Senior Consultant, Jacobs

Kat Gelsthorpe

Principal Environmental Scientist, Jacobs

Thomas Fischer

Professor, Geography and Planning, University of Liverpool

Dan Johnston is a Senior Associate Director of Environment at Jacobs UK Ltd. He has been working in Environmental Impact Assessment for 32 years, originally as a Cultural Heritage specialist and since 2004 as an EIA professional. Dan is one of Jacobs’ leading technical experts in his field and has led multi-disciplinary teams for numerous large-scale projects in the highways, energy, nuclear, rail, wastewater, water supply and industrial sectors. Dan had a previous career as a field archaeologist, leading excavations mainly in Scotland.

Thomas is a Professor of Impact Assessment in the Department of Geography and Planning, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK and Director of the Environmental Assessment and Management Research Centre. He is also the Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Health in Impact Assessments and a Partner at Global Impact Assessment. Furthermore, he is an Extra-ordinary Professor at the Research Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, South Africa and a Fellow of ISEP and member of the Impact Assessment Steering Group. He started his professional career 34 years ago as a consultant for Impact Assessments, mainly of transport projects in Potsdam, Germany. He then worked for the German Federal administration before doing his PhD on Strategic Environmental Assessment in transport and spatial planning at the University of Manchester. After post-doc positions in Bristol and Berlin, he joined the University of Liverpool over 21 years ago.