IAIA 2026 Awards: Submit a nomination

You are invited to nominate potential award recipients for the 2026 IAIA Awards. If you have more than one recipient to nominate, you may complete this survey multiple times.

The criteria for each award category are listed below. Please review the criteria and then select the relevant award from the drop-down menu on the next page. Please be sure to include a justification for your nomination or it will not be considered. Self-nominations are discouraged.

Please ensure that you provide your name and email address (at end of survey form) to enable the Committee to contact you for more information if necessary.

Please submit nominations by 15 September.

AWARD CATEGORIES

Global Award: Awarded to a leading individual or institution who has made a substantial contribution to impact assessment practice, management, or policy at a global scale. Particular emphasis is given to recognizing efforts in promoting impact assessment for improvement of the global environment. Past recipients of this award include Global Commons Alliance, Hydropower Sustainability Alliance, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Arctic Council, Danish Institute for Human Rights, The World Bank, and C.S. "Buzz" Holling.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Awarded to an individual for major contribution to the field of impact assessment over a sustained period. This is IAIA’s premiere internal award, previously known as the Rose-Hulman Award. Contribution to the field is broadly defined and could include leadership in an organization promoting impact assessment (such as IAIA), and/or contribution to the understanding (through scholarship and research) or practice of impact assessment. The contribution could also be on the basis of excellence or leadership in training in impact assessment over a lengthy period. The contribution should be at an international level rather than only at a regional level. This is an end-of-career/late-career award, reflecting sustained service to the field rather than a specific achievement. Recent winners have included John Sinclair, Yaw Amoyaw Osei, Peter Tarr, Alistair Clark, Richard Morgan, and Asha Rajvanshi. [Recipient must be a current or past IAIA member.]

Individual Award: Made to an individual, who does not necessarily need to be a member of IAIA, to recognize personal contribution to the discipline of impact assessment such as by a theoretical contribution, best practice, etc. The award is meant to reflect major achievement over a period of time and at an international level, but could be within a narrow sub-field of impact assessment. The award is given to a mid-career professional, rather than an early- or end-of-career individual. The 2025 winner was Alan Bond.

Institutional Award: Made to a national or international governmental or non-governmental organization for contribution to impact assessment such as for a significant contribution to the practice of impact assessment, or for setting regulatory standards, or other environment related activity deserving recognition. Recent winners include Danish Centre for Environmental Assessment at Aalborg University, the CEnvP Scheme of Australia & New Zealand, European Investment Bank (EIB), Environmental Assessment Practitioners Association of South Africa (EAPASA), and Tanzania National Parks.

Corporate Initiative Award: Presented to a private or public sector company for a specific activity or project that has made a notable contribution to responsible development practice through the application of impact assessment. It was presented in 2025 to the Hong Kong Institute of Environmental Impact Assessment (HKIEIA) for their creation of a platform using data-driven, smart technology to support changing IA practices for EIA reporting. NOTE: The justification for this specific award must include: (1) Activity/project name, description and location; (2) Need for and objectives of the activity/project; (3) The tasks undertaken to launch and maintain the activity/project, including the application of impact assessment; (4) The partners involved in the activity/project; (5) The main beneficiaries of the activity/project; (6) The main challenges encountered; (7) A motivation on how the activity/project “pushed the boundaries” (i.e. more than mere compliance); and (8) Future sustainability of the activity/project.

Regional Award: Awarded to a person or organization who has made a substantial contribution to the field of impact assessment and/or has taken a leadership role in promoting best practice in impact assessment within the general world region of the location of the conference for that year. The 2026 conference will take place in Quebec, Canada. The 2024 winner was the Volunteers of IEMA.

Young Professional Award: Acknowledges a distinguished young professional under the age of 35 with outstanding achievements in the impact assessment field. It is meant to encourage young people to further develop the field during their professional careers. The 2025 winner was Katie Fineran.