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The Faculty of Forestry is one of the top institutions globally in forest-related education and research. The unique breadth of expertise we possess allows us to integrate new knowledge across many disciplines. Offering both master’s and doctoral programs, our graduate students learn from a dynamic and diverse group of researchers from around the world.
The Forest Sciences Centre is a showcase for construction using Canadian forest products, and was architecturally designed to mimic the landscape of British Columbia: towering trees, mountains, and blue-green waters. The 17,505-square-metre Forest Sciences complex has 11 classrooms, 2 lecture theatres, teaching laboratories, office space, computer labs, study areas, and a cafeteria, and houses the Faculty’s three departments.
Built alongside the Forest Sciences Centre is the 3,730-square-metre Centre for Advanced Wood Processing. It is Canada’s national centre of excellence for education and research related to wood products processing and advanced wood products manufacturing, and works to advance knowledge that fosters job creation, stabilizes forest-dependent communities, encourages increased value recovery, and ensures the sustainable management of Canada’s forests. This building includes two 25-seat classrooms, a machine lab, a simulator lab and a computer lab.
Within the Faculty of Forestry, there are also several research groups. Visit the website of each project to find out more.
Off-campus facilities include two Research Forests: the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest in Maple Ridge and the Alex Fraser Research Forest near Williams Lake. These are working forests located throughout the province where students and faculty can study in an outdoor setting. Fish and wildlife, silviculture, forest harvesting, forest ecology, forest management, and resources management figure prominently in these field studies.
UBC Forestry is turning out a new generation of foresters, and faculty are committed to meeting future challenges in forestry through in-depth, cutting edge research. In fact, UBC Forestry receives the highest level of forestry research funding of any forestry faculty in Canada.
In the 2017/2018 fiscal year, members of the Faculty Forestry were awarded a total of over $12 million in research funding.
Our wide breadth of research includes topics such as tree rings, integrated remote sensing, bioenergy, forest conservation genetics, landscape visualizations, African forest conservation and development, alpine studies, climate change, and advanced wood processing.
| Name | Academic Unit(s) | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Paradis, Gregory | Department of Forest Resources Management | Design and analysis of sytems; Modelling and applications of systems; Production systems engineering; Systems engineering, n.e.c.; Programming in operational research (including linear and nonlinear programming); Combinatorial and network optimization (including programming and metaheuristics); Optimization under uncertainty (including stochastic and robust optimization); Bilevel optimization and game theory; Stochastic models (including queueing and simulation); Decisions and risk analysis; Forest management; Forest Operations; forest estate modelling; carbon budget modelling; Ecosystem services; cumulative effects; Operations Research; industrial engineering; computer science; forest economics; forest sector sustainability; mining sector sustainability |
| Park, Keun | Department of Forest Resources Management | Smart city design and development and related analysis; Landscape studies (except architecture); Urban design and studies; Geographic information system (GIS and GPS) applications; Design of healthy, just, and resilient cities through urban nature; Environmental justice; Human Behaviours in public space; Urban planning; urban forestry |
| Renneckar, Scott | Department of Wood Science | Advanced renewable materials, biopolymer structure characterization, Clean fractionation of biomass, Electrospinning Fibers, Nanocellulose, Self-assembly of biopolymers |
| Rhemtulla, Jeanine | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | Forestry sciences; Ecology and Quality of the Environment; Ecological Trends; Landscape and Restoration; Environment Management and Protection; Biodiversity and Biocomplexity; Conservation & Poverty Alleviation; Ecosystem services; Landscape ecology & spatial analysis; Reforestation; socio-ecological systems; Temperate & tropical forest & agroforestry systems |
| Roeser, Dominik | Department of Forest Resources Management | Forest Operations; Wildfire Operations; Biomass supply systems; Feedstock quality improvements; Technology transfer of harvesting technologies in different operational environments; Small scale harvesting systems; Small scale bioenergy solutions |
| Sayer, Jeffrey | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | Forestry sciences; biodiversity; Communities and Livelihoods; Forest policy; Forest conservation in Indonesia; Land-use Change; Reconciling conservation and development in tropical forest landscapes; sustainability; Tropical Landscapes and Livelihoods; Tropical forest conservation |
| Simard, Suzanne | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | forestry silviculture soils mycorrhizae forest ecology, Biodiversity, climate change, conservation, ecology, ecosystems, forest biology, forest management, microbiology, silviculture, soil science, sustainability |
| Smith, Gregory | Department of Wood Science | Engineering, wood products |
| Sowlati, Taraneh | Department of Wood Science | Wood Science, Industrial Engineering in Wood Science |
| Sunderland, Terence | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | Earth and related environmental sciences; Social and economic geography; biodiversity; Communications; Communities and Livelihoods; conservation; Conservation Biology; Ecosystem services; Environmental communication; Forest policy; Land-use Change; Landscape ecology; Natural Resource Management; social science; sustainability; Tropical Landscapes and Livelihoods; Developing countries; Forest management |
| Tu, Qingshi | Department of Wood Science | Forestry biomass and bioproducts; Earth and related environmental sciences; Systems engineering; Environmental engineering; Biomass (Energy); Sustainable Development; Modelization and Simulation; Biofuels and bioproducts; climate change; Computational modeling; Forest biorefineries; Industrial ecology; Life cycle assessment; Sustainable bioeconomy; Machine Learning |
| van der Ven, Hamish | Department of Wood Science | Sustainable supply chain governance; Sustainable production; Impacts of digital technologies on the environment; Transnational governance; International Political Economy; Environmental governance |
| Wang, Tongli | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | climate models, climate change adaptation, ecosystem climate projection, species range projection, assistant migratoin |
| Wang, Guangyu | Department of Forest Resources Management | business management, climate change, conservation, forest management, forest policy, land-use change |
| Wiesner, Felix | Department of Wood Science | Engineering design; Fire Safety; Timber Construction; Timber Engineering; Wood Products; Fire protection |
| Wolkovich, Elizabeth | Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences | Forestry sciences; biodiversity; climate change; Conservation science; Global change; Plant communities; Plant invasions; Population and ecosystem ecology; Temporal ecology; Winegrapes |
| Zerriffi, Hisham | Department of Forest Resources Management | Environmental geography; Forestry biomass and bioproducts; Modelling and applications of systems; Environment and natural resources economics; Environmental policy; Biomass (Energy); Energy Transformation and Energy Using; International development; Environment and Society; Ideological, Political, Economical and Social Environments of Social Transformations; Social and Cultural Factors of Environmental Protection; energy poverty |
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Forestry.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Dr. Dickson-Hoyle examined how Secwépemc Nation communities and territories are recovering from recent megafires in British Columbia. She identifies key lessons from joint recovery efforts and describes Secwépemc Elder Ron Ignace's concept of walking on two legs to guide collaborative research and restoration in Indigenous territories. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Chen examined where and how human activities affect mammals by using an extensive camera trap dataset comprising data from 8600 remote cameras. He found that mammal diversity is associated more with protected area coverage than with negative human influences globally, which provide insights into future biodiversity conservation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2023 | The ancestral territories of the Mapuche Nation were violently reduced to individual properties that today are in the hands of non-Mapuche people, including settlers and commercial companies. Dr. Arias-Bustamante's study showed how Mapuche communities navigate the system in their quest to land restitution in a constantly changing context. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Reich used novel molecular methods to identify airborne fungi that cause diseases in agricultural crops. He found that the air contains many pathogenic and mutualistic fungi for plant health and showed that this information could help predict plant epidemics. His research will help farmers manage field diseases while reducing fungicide use. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Todd studied Canadian municipal parks and their contribution to the urban forest canopy. She provides recommendations on how parks can continue to meet recreational and cultural demands while balancing those with urban forestry objectives for a more resilient city. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Ye designed a series of nanocellulose-based gel conductors for a variety of sophisticated applications. His study would advance the creation of biodegradable electronics, relieving the environmental pollution caused by discarded electronics. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Cheng examined the interactions between urban forest policies and climate change (and related urban planning) policies in Canadian cities. Her research revealed key conflicts and synergies among municipal policies and explored solutions to better integrate urban forests into building a compact, livable, and climate-resilient city | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Queinnec examined the ability of novel airborne and spaceborne remote sensing technologies to characterize three-dimensional vegetation structure in boreal forests of Canada. His work provides enhanced knowledge about forest resources in both managed and unmanaged forested ecosystems. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Du Toit used Airborne Laser Scanning to model genetically improved Douglas-fir trees. Descriptors were used to assess tree performance, and predict genetic parameters. He found that ALS is capable of describing trees at multiple scales, and should be used in breeding programs due the cost savings and insights the technology provides. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Milla-Moreno examined the potential use of native trees to restore ecosystems damaged by copper mines in Chile. After assessing several tree species, the evergreen tree quillay was found suitable for this purpose because it keeps copper in the roots, as shown by mass spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence imaging. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |