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Informing Decision-making with HIA Evidence: Theory and Reality

18 Sep 2025
Dr Darren McAdam-O'Connell (coordinator of the Transport Mobility Forum), Ben Cave, Dr Monica O'Mullane (UCC), Dr Margaret Scanlon (UCC)

Hosted by the ISS21 SHAPE Research Cluster and the School of Public Health, this seminar critically examined the theory and reality of decision-making with Health Impact Assessment evidence. 

Visiting speaker, Ben Cave shared his insights on HIA as an approach that can create and collate evidence to inform decision making at project and policy levels. The seminar theme is particularly relevant in the Irish context, as health impact assessments are not routinely carried out in Ireland and further work needs to be done to raise awareness of the theory and practice of HIA.

The event was opened and chaired by Dr Monica O'Mullane, convenor of the SHAPE cluster and PI of the HIA-IM project, which is developing a Health Impact Assessment Implementation Model to enhance HIA practice in Ireland. 

Speaker Bio

Ben Cave has over 20 years’ experience working in assessment with public and private sector and works across Europe and in the US, Africa and Asia. He was President of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) from May 2020 to May 2021. Ben was the sole European member of National Research Council/Institute Of Medicine committee for a study on Health Impact Assessment in the USA (2009-2011).

He is committed to improving standards and quality in the field of impact assessment. He has led development of a review package for HIA reports and convened seminars on quality in impact assessment. Ben is co-author of an article that comes out of these seminars and which looks at what different stakeholders understand by quality in the field of impact assessment.

For more on this story contact:

Dr Monica O'Mullane, m.omullane@ucc.ie 

Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century (ISS21)

Top Floor, Carrigbawn/Safari Building, Donovan Road, Cork, T12 YE30

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