Clare Short delivers key lecture on transparency in the global mining industry

Ms Short, who now serves as the Head of the Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), was guest speaker for the 14^th annual Victor Phillips Memorial Lecture, which took place on Thursday, 30 October in the Old Chapel Lecture Theatre.

The lecture, titled "The EITI and Transparency in the Mining Industry", discusses the UK Government’s recent decision to sign up to EITI - a global coalition of governments, companies and civil society working together to improve openness and accountable management of revenues from natural resources. The event also discussed transparency in the international mining industry generally, and ways in which EITI can be made useful and relevant to OECD countries.

Dr Patrick Foster, Senior Lecturer in Mining Engineering, said: “We’re delighted to be able to welcome Clare Short to the Penryn Campus, and take part in such a fascinating and important lecture on this integral part of the future of the international mining community.

"Clare has a wealth of experience borne from her tenure in Parliament, but also brought an excellent understanding of the international mining industry as part of her new role. Her lecture provoked an interesting debate, and stimulated some interesting ideas and concepts for us all to think about.”

Ms Short was Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010. For most of this period she was a Labour Party MP, but she resigned as the party whip in 2006 and served the remainder of her term as an Independent.