Attendance to his two-day workshop was by invitation only. For anyone interested in forestry, including multi-functionality, innovative business practices and management, see the programme: EIP-AGRI network.
I love forests. Forests are everywhere, sea forests, island forests, mountain forests, and lake forests. My earliest image of forest is going there with my dad who used to take endless pictures of us, kids (four of us) and dogs, wrapped up in willow trees tiny branches around our heads. And I cherish these memories that created bond not only between us, kids, and dad but also between us and forest.
The workshop was interesting and stimulating opportunity to develop new knowledge and think about transferring the existing research skills to a context of forestry management. You would be surprised how much you already know and how you can use this, e.g. an interaction between science, policy making, and practices. I also learned about the research, policy making and practices in forest management. I met and chatted with many practitioners (foresters and farmers), policy makers in the Department of Forestry and their point contacts. We exchanged opinions and identified new issues that could be explored as research ideas for setting up our own operational group. During the workshop, we participated in interactive discussions, e.g. we worked in small teams from 9am to 5pm and in my team we discussed various issues, e.g. technology transfer in forestry, educating for forests, free access to a scientific information on the EU website, etc. I hope to stay in touch with them.
The workshop, thus, helped me to think more precisely about I could do next and how to proceed with it, e.g. I am looking to set up my own operational group on one of the research themes, for which then I could apply for funding, providing that it is feasible and that I have committed partners. Let’s see what happen next!
Dr Zrinka Mendas 