Social Licence, HFE and the Australian Nuclear Defence Enterprise
Tracks
Room 3
| Tuesday, December 1, 2026 |
| 1:50 PM - 2:50 PM |
| Concurrent Room 2 |
Overview
Workshop - Amelia Keates and Jacob Home
Speaker
Mrs Amelia Keates
Frazer Nash Consultancy
Social Licence, HFE and the Australian Nuclear Defence Enterprise
Abstract
Aim: The Social Licence to Operate (SLO) refers to the ongoing acceptance and approval of a project or organisation’s activities by stakeholders, local communities, and the broader public. Originating in the mining and extractive industries of the late 1990s, SLO is now applied across diverse public and private sectors delivering societally significant or high‑impact projects. SLO is a dynamic, relational, and continuously negotiated concept, achieved through meaningful engagement with communities potentially affected by complex socio‑technical systems. Although intangible, establishing and maintaining SLO is integral to project viability, risk reduction, and the realisation of associated socio‑economic benefits.
In practice, responsibility for SLO strategy often sits solely within communications or social value functions -separate from design, engineering, safety assurance, and operational decision‑making, where many determinants of perceived legitimacy, credibility, and safety actually originate. This workshop explores how HFE, with its focus on human‑system integration, safety, usability, and socio‑technical complexity, can meaningfully contribute to the pursuit and practice of SLO.
Workshop Plan: The workshop introduces the Australian Nuclear‑Powered Submarine enterprise under AUKUS as a highly complex and socially contested candidate for SLO. Using this context, participants will engage in a structured exercise to map how cornerstone HFE principles, methodologies, and skills align with the meaningful establishment and maintenance of SLO. The session examines how conventional SLO practice may be strengthened through the integration of HFE, particularly for projects involving advanced, contested, or disruptive technologies.
Outcomes: Participants will gain:
- An understanding of the relevance, importance, and practice of SLO, including to the AUKUS context;
- A structured view of how HFE practices can enhance SLO establishment and maintenance; and
- Practical ideas for integrating HFE into SLO strategy across other complex or contested technology domains
Workshop outputs will be synthesised into a white paper outlining the opportunity for the HFE discipline.
In practice, responsibility for SLO strategy often sits solely within communications or social value functions -separate from design, engineering, safety assurance, and operational decision‑making, where many determinants of perceived legitimacy, credibility, and safety actually originate. This workshop explores how HFE, with its focus on human‑system integration, safety, usability, and socio‑technical complexity, can meaningfully contribute to the pursuit and practice of SLO.
Workshop Plan: The workshop introduces the Australian Nuclear‑Powered Submarine enterprise under AUKUS as a highly complex and socially contested candidate for SLO. Using this context, participants will engage in a structured exercise to map how cornerstone HFE principles, methodologies, and skills align with the meaningful establishment and maintenance of SLO. The session examines how conventional SLO practice may be strengthened through the integration of HFE, particularly for projects involving advanced, contested, or disruptive technologies.
Outcomes: Participants will gain:
- An understanding of the relevance, importance, and practice of SLO, including to the AUKUS context;
- A structured view of how HFE practices can enhance SLO establishment and maintenance; and
- Practical ideas for integrating HFE into SLO strategy across other complex or contested technology domains
Workshop outputs will be synthesised into a white paper outlining the opportunity for the HFE discipline.
Biography
Amelia Keates is a Registered Psychologist, Organisational Psychology Registrar and human factors practitioner. Amelia has over seven years of experience designing and managing human factors integration and analysis projects across safety-critical industries, including Defence, Rail, Civil Air Traffic Control and Mining. In her current role as Senior Consultant – Human Factors at Frazer-Nash Consultancy, Amelia supports both design, Systems Engineering and Safety Assurance activities for complex infrastructure projects, including those with nuclear and radiological significance. Amelia has also held various research roles in both industry and within the Centre for Business and Organisational Psychology at the University of Queensland, spanning topics including AI and automation insertion, safety culture maturity, psychosocial hazard management, and psychological recovery from work. She currently holds the position of South Australian Board Director and Branch Chair for the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society Australia.
Mr Jacob Home
Fraser Nash Consultancy
Social Licence, HFE and the Australian Nuclear Defence Enterprise
Biography
Jacob is a Chartered Physicist and Chartered Engineer with over 13 years’ experience spanning civil nuclear new build, defence nuclear programmes, government policy, and advanced reactor technologies. His background integrates organisational development, strategy, and programme management, enabling him to shape complex, high‑value nuclear initiatives across multiple teams.
Jacob has contributed to major UK civil nuclear programmes and national strategic initiatives, giving him a broad, practical understanding of how nuclear systems develop in different contexts. He delivers technically informed, strategically aligned solutions that support sovereign capability and drive effective outcomes in highly regulated environments. Additionally, he is developing his expertise in Human Factors in nuclear projects and the social licence to operate.
