The I2S Research Advisory Board has endorsed a range of priority projects to help inform decision making around engagement, social risk management and social license in the infrastructure sector. These projects represent a world-first evidence base to inform decision making in the infrastructure sector and provide the building blocks for future research.
We are working to develop an International Infrastructure and Engagement Case Centre, underpinned by what we believe to be the world’s first engagement standard developed specifically for the infrastructure sector – the Infrastructure Engagement Excellence Standards. These standards enable us to produce robust, comparable case studies that look at the most impactful aspects of engagement performance.
For six consecutive years we have tracked the experiences of project professionals in infrastructure and engagement with the State of Infrastructure and Engagement Survey. Through the survey we have learned more about what’s driving project delays, cancellations and mothballing, the professionalisation of the engagement discipline in the infrastructure sector and the impact of social risk management on project performance.
We’re complementing perspectives from industry professionals with perspectives from Australian communities through Australian Perspectives on Infrastructure. This work with more than 6,000 Australian community members provides a unique 360-degree view of the relationship between project teams and impacted communities and also of the needs of Australia’s most infrastructure-impacted communities.
We are also working toward industry’s long term priority of modelling the costs of social risk in the infrastructure sector. Our ARC Linkage Social Risk Research Team is working with infrastructure professionals to understand how social risks are currently defined, identified, priced and managed and to build associated management tools to help make a step change in performance in this critical area.