SFT Announce Appointment of Three New Trustees

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The Scottish Forestry Trust is delighted to announce the appointment of three new Trustees who will take up their posts on 1st January 2023.

Professor Adam Kleczkowski

Adam is a statistician and mathematician with over 30 years of experience addressing plant and tree health. Having graduated in Poland, he worked on epidemiological and ecological models in Germany and the UK, holding a Senior Research Fellowship at the King’s College, Cambridge, and a lectureship at the University of Cambridge, followed by a professorship at the University of Stirling. Since 2018 he has been a Global Talent Professor in Mathematics at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. His work is dedicated to understanding how pests and diseases affect the UK and global forests and what can be done to prevent such devastating outbreaks as Ash Dieback or Emerald Ash Borer, and to future-proof the woods from climate change. He firmly believes that we can only start to understand the links between forestry, ecology, economics and health by bringing together different disciplines. He uses statistics and mathematics to underpin this work. He has written multiple popular science articles on epidemiology and statistics. He has been a member of the British Society for Plant Pathology for 20 years and a Fellow of the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications.

Trefor Owen FICFor

Trefor is a chartered forester and senior leader in large scale sustainable land management and climate transition and adaptation. He was formerly responsible for the care of Scotland’s 650,000 Hectares national forests and land. He is a strong advocate for sustainable resource use, multi-dimensional land management, skills & learning and further development of the bio-economy. Trefor is also a proficient programme/project sponsor and independent reviewer. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters Professional and Educational Standards Committee. He is also a member of Bangor University’s Accelerator Advisory Board that supports science and technology start-ups in North Wales, to drive the growth of innovative businesses in the region.

Dr Ian Willoughby FICFor

Ian is a Principal Silviculturist with Forest Research, and has particular research expertise in integrated forest vegetation management and early silviculture. In both cases his ethos is to deliver clear, practical solutions for forest managers, based on undertaking high quality peer reviewed science. He has authored over 100 publications. Ian’s research on forest vegetation management covers all silvicultural systems and includes plant competition, the use of pesticides as control measures for dealing with invasive pests, diseases and weeds, alternatives to pesticides and pesticide reduction, and developing integrated solutions for managing invasive vegetation. His research on early silviculture focuses on adapting forest regeneration to increase resilience to climate change and biotic threats.

Chair of the Scottish Forestry Trust Bob McIntosh who welcomes the new appointments said “The Trust is very pleased that for the second year running we have been able to attract such a high calibre of new Trustees. Earlier this year the Trust published its new 10 Year Development Plan, setting new strategic priorities and seeking to increase the funds available to support forestry research and education, which our new Trustees can help deliver.”