Nigel is an economist and international development professional with experience in Latin America, Europe and Australia. He worked in finance in Australia and the UK for several years before moving into the international development sector. He has extensive experience in community development and stakeholder engagement in Argentina and Chile with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), particularly in the field of project monitoring and assessment and capacity building.
Since 2015 he has worked for SMI-CSRM at The University of Queensland, researching the concept of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) in the mining industry in Chile. His areas of expertise include: indigenous rights frameworks, FPIC, ILO Convention 169, community development, social exclusion and assessment and monitoring.
Journal Articles
- Wight, N. (2024). The Unsettling of the Huasco Valley: The Complex Case Study of Pascua Lama and “the Diaguita Peoples”. PhD Thesis, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland.
Conference Paper
- Rivero, F, Wight, N, Matamala, K, Choque, D, Cabrera, C and Bravo, C. (2024). Planning for Closure 2024. “Approach to The Social Closure of Mines: Challenges and Opportunities”.
- Wight, N and Kunz, N. University of British Columbia, Canada, WaterCongress, 2019. The limitations of community-oriented water management platforms in the absence of good faith.
- Wight, N. (2018). Extraction, Development & Indigenous Community Sustainability Symposium, University of Queensland. “Picking Sides”: Social Research Amidst Community Conflict. The Case of Pascua Lama.
- Wight, N. (2017). SustainableMining Retrofitting the Concept of FPIC in a Late-Phase Mining Operation: Barrick, the Diaguita and the MoU.
Thesis Supervision
- Kenta Matsumoto – Master Thesis, Master of Environmental Management, University of Queensland – 2021
Measuring sustainability performance of lithium brine production against ICMM Mining Principles: A case study of Salar de Olaroz project in Jujuy, Argentina.