About Us
The Impact Assessment Research Centre (IARC) in IDPM specialises in the integrated assessment of the economic, social and environmental impacts on sustainable development of national, regional and international policies. Its current research programme includes sustainability impact assessment (SIA) of global and regional trade agreements, the effectiveness of national sustainable development strategies (NSDS), and regulatory impact assessment (RIA) of draft legislation and other policy measures.
Since 1999, the Centre has been the lead institution in a major programme for the European Commission's DG Trade, to undertake a series of SIA studies of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations. Following development of the SIA methodology and initial overview studies of the complete Seattle and Doha agendas, a series of detailed SIAs have been carried out for specific aspects of the negotiations. This work is currently being drawn together to provide further information for the negotiation and policy-making processes of the European Commission and its trading partners.
The Centre is also leading an international consortium doing similar work for DG EuropeAid, on an SIA of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area (EMFTA). This involves extensive consultation in North Africa and Middle East, and has produced a series of reports to assist policy-makers. The project is now in its third phase, in which a number of specific economic sectors are being studied, and proposals are being drawn up for ongoing monitoring of the impacts of the trade agreements. For more information on the IARC's work on trade SIA, visit www.sia-trade.org.
In association with SED's EIA Centre, IARC undertakes research, consultancy and training on EIA in developing and transitional countries. Recent activities include a training programme for Iraqi environmental managers, provided for UNEP as part of a collaborative programme with the Centre International des Technologies de L'Environment de Tunis (CITET).
Research and consultancy on RIA has been undertaken for the World Bank in Macedonia, OECD in Russia, DFID in Croatia, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa, alongside research into the effectiveness of the UK and European impact assessment systems,and assistance to the UK National Audit Office in the evaluation of UK RIAs. The IARC is also a member of the European Network for Better Regulation (ENBR), funded by the European Commission's Research Framework 6 Programme. Our work on RIA in developing countries has been developed as part of the Centre on Regulation and Competition (CRC) research programme on regulation policy. This work has included capacity building in RIA with local partners in Sri Lanka, Ghana, and India.
The Centre's work on national sustainable development strategies began with research for DFID in the preparations for the 2002 World Summit in Johannesburg, and has continued with assistance to the UN Commission for Sustainable Development, and a review of evaluation techniques being carried out for OECD.
In 2005, IARC hosted the first series of international conferences on sustainability evaluation being organised under the European Union's Marie Curie programme, in association with the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Saarland University, and four Central and Eastern European partners (EASY-ECO). The Centre also contributed to the first of the programme's training courses for young researchers, held in Bratislava. Visit the EASY-ECO programme for more information on future events.
The IARC also contributed to the work of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA). Clive George is co-chair of the IAIA Trade Assessment Section, and Colin Kirkpatrick is co-Editor of the IAIA's quarterly journal, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal.