IM4DC hosted an Alumni Forum on 14 and 15 July 2014 for 88 alumni, plus personnel from universities, NGOs and industry. Held at The University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus in the new Advanced Engineering Building, the Forum involved representatives from 23 countries around the world.

It was a stimulating two days with IM4DC and Australia Awards alumni, gathered in Brisbane to share their insights and knowledge, review the current IM4DC program and activities and their country activities, and consider the challenges and opportunities ahead for building mining for development capacity in their home countries.

This year’s Forum, with the theme of ‘Leadership. Collaboration. Governance’, was designed to be thought-provoking and challenging with input from alumni, 19 of whom acted as facilitators during the Forum.

The Alumni Forum began with a welcome from keynote speaker, Dr Anthony Hodge, President of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), who said a key success factor for mining companies is building relations with local communities. Anthony’s address – ‘The ongoing question of mining’s role in development’ set the scene for stimulating discourse around relationships, challenges, benefits and outcomes impacting and engaging a wide variety of stakeholders.

The enthusiastic group were highly interactive and engaged in a range of panel discussions and workshop sessions with a team of resource development experts including academics, alumni, representatives from governments and non-governmental organisations, and industry practitioners.

The Forum provided networking opportunities that enabled participants to discuss and reflect on Forum themes, share experiences and promote practical outcomes. Throughout the Forum, alumni were encouraged to actively engage with M4DLink. An interactive networking centre was available for participants use.

The feedback provided from participants at the Forum is highly valued by IM4DC, and will be used to plan IM4DC’s future program.