Fiona Solomon

Evolving scientific research governance in Australia: a case study of engaging interested publics in nanotechnology research

This paper examines the prospects for integrating social context questions within science and technology research and development governance. While the use of public engagement to investigate social aspects of emerging technologies is increasingly accepted, incorporating social understandings into research and development processes is far less developed. The paper outlines two Australian public engagement workshops in the social issues of nanotechnologies, and a third workshop with nanoscientists, which explored governance options for incorporating social context questions within research processes. Our research suggests that in Australia we are still some distance from integrating social issues into nanotechnology research and development governance. In part, this is because the difficulties of prediction and control of nanotechnologies, together with particular characteristics of scientific cultures and institutions, make both prospects and outcomes of integration difficult to assess.

Evaluating the Feasibility of Independent Third Party Certification for the Mining Sector

Introduction Mineral exploration and development can have a significant impact on the environment and its local communities. While the area of land impacted by mining in Australia is estimated to be in the order of only 0.02 per cent of Australias land surface (Mulligan, 1996, pl5), its activities can create a range of effects on local landscapes, biodiversity, habitat, marine environments, rivers and aquifers, local communities, indigenous people, and workers. Poor environmental and social performance on the part of some mining companies has created mainstream public concern about mining practice and affected the reputation of the industry as a whole.

External Verification of the Australian Minerals Industry Code for Environment Management: A Case Study

External verification of industrys environmental and social performance is an increasingly popular strategy for improving accountability. However, do these processes of verification ultimately add up to a more accountable company or industry? This article describes a case study of external verification in the Australian mining industry. It introduces the Australian Minerals Industry Code for Environmental Management and explores how concepts of accountability and verification have been embedded within it. The case study, a verification process commissioned by Placer Dome Asia Pacific and the research process that accompanied it, is then discussed in brief. The difference between verifying systems and verifying outcomes from those systems is explored. Finally, the article concludes with some recommendations for external verification, both of the Code and of environmental, social or sustainability performance in general.