This comprehensive training programme equips practitioners with the skills to deliver meaningful community engagement in impact assessment. Through examining 13 foundational elements that underpin effective public participation, participants will gain practical insights into planning and delivering engagement that goes beyond consultation to create genuine collaboration. The programme combines extensive research with real-world application, allowing participants to work with their own case studies whilst applying recognised industry frameworks from EIANZ, IAIA, and IAP2.

Delivered in a highly interactive learning environment, this training addresses the contemporary challenges facing engagement practitioners today. Participants will explore proven tools and techniques for achieving sustainable outcomes, with particular focus on managing high-conflict situations and addressing misinformation. The programme also examines the evolving influence of artificial intelligence on engagement practices, ensuring participants are prepared for the future of public participation in impact assessment.

Session Overviews

Session 1 – What makes for ‘meaningful’ public participation in impact assessment?

• Review of international frameworks, National / State based regulatory environments
• Definitions – the what, why and who of public participation – clarity on the parameters
• Meaningful elements – 4 foundations, 6 essential elements, 3 contextual elements

Session 2 – When, where and how to engage for effective approaches

• Impact Assessment (IA) and decision-making process – making the case for early engagement and decision impact
• Being the advocate for access, adequate notice, opportunity for involvement, open and transparent approaches
• Clarity on learning oriented, deliberative and relationship-focussed approaches
• Understanding the role of ethics, the IA ‘expert’ and others

Session 3 – Applying the elements, social skills/communications, technique selection

• Applying the meaningful public participation in IA framework to case studies
• Exploring techniques – adapting approaches for your public participation plan
• Social/communication skills needed for effective participation, navigating conflict

Session 4 – project management fundamentals, ethics, monitoring and evaluation

• Monitoring and evaluation – embedding your M&E framework early and in practice
• Tightening your approach to project management, resourcing and reporting
• Self and peer reflection and ways forward for transformative engagement approaches in your IA practice

By completing this course attendees will learn to:

• Define meaningful participation and what makes it unique in impact assessment,
• Identify power-related dynamics, scope for community influence, noting the role of ethics in engagement,
• Appreciate attributes needed to address these in impact assessment processes, and
• Understand and apply different engagement frameworks.

Format

• Four x 3.5 hour online sessions over two weeks.
  A fifth session, a few months later, will review key points, address tips and challenges of implementation and allow participants to share experiences since the initial workshops.
• The sessions include a variety of presentations, interactive discussions, small group break out activities and breaks to ensure you remain fresh and attentive!
• You’ll receive handouts documenting the main ideas and further learning material. Please note that there is no recording, digital summarizing or use of AI tools during these sessions.
• Participation is limited to 20 participants to enhance interaction.
• To enable workshops to share a variety of opinions and conversations, each workshop is limited to no more than five employees from the same organisation. If you wish to host a workshop tailored to employees from a single organisation please reach out to us at events@eianz.org and we will work with yourself and Tanya Burdett to find suitable dates.

This workshop will be held of 4 sessions on the following dates:
Tuesday 17 March, Thursday 19 March, Tuesday 24 March & Thursday 26 March 2026 from 12:00pm to 3:30pm (AEDT)

Meet the speaker

Tanya Burdett | Director at Essential Planning and Engagement

Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), Registered Planner, and Licensed Trainer in delivery of the Global Learning Pathway with the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2), Tanya shares insights from her 30+ year career in planning, impact assessment and public participation. She co-chairs the IAIA public participation section, is active in the EIANZ SEA Community of Practice, and has contributed to multiple books on the role of engagement in impact assessment and planning approvals, releasing her first co-edited book in 2024 (Handbook of Public Participation in Impact Assessment).

Tanya has worked in a range of sectors, and maintains a consultancy practice in both Australia and the UK – Essential Planning, with extensive training, capacity building and impact assessment experience in both countries and elsewhere in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. She has taught on community engagement and impact assessment at the University of Westminster (London, UK) and Monash University (Melbourne, Australia), and is a sessional tutor at the University of Melbourne in Masters courses on urban sustainability and climate change, participatory planning, and strategic plan making. She is completing her PhD at the University of Melbourne, with research interests in strategic decision making, impact assessment and engagement.

Click here to view Tanya’s website and biography →

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