The January 2023 issue of IUFRO-Japan News features: - a Participation Report on the ALL-IUFRO CONFERENCE 2022 KOHSAKA Ryo, The University of Tokyo; - a Report on IUFRO OKINAWA 2022: Progress in Small-scale Forestry beyond the Pandemic and Global Climate Change MAEDA Chiharu, University of Hyogo; - a Participation Report on the IUFRO Okinawa 2022 HAYAFUNE Masato, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute; - Participation Report on the IUFRO Conference Division 7 – Forest Health, Pathology and Entomology Lisbon 6-9 September 2022 NAKAMURA Katsunori, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute; - Report on Participation in the 5th International Conference on Radioecology & Environmental Radioactivity in 2022 KOMATSU Masabumi, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute; - Information of "XXVI IUFRO World Congress 2024"; and - a Notice from the Secretariat.

These exceptional scholarships are awarded to Ukrainian scholars to enable them to carry out scientific research on environmental change and biodiversity loss, and/or human socio-cultural responses to them at the University of Oulu. Funding covers living costs in, and travel to/from Oulu, and is currently available for stays of up to six months. Open to researchers holding a PhD or currently enrolled in a doctoral programme. Grantees will work in Oulu, conducting research on environmental change and biodiversity loss, and/or human socio-cultural responses to them. For an application, a CV and a 2000-word research plan are required.

Read about the International Symposium on Intersectoral Cooperation for Resilient Landscapes in Dehradun, find out about recent and upcoming Forest Mensuration and Modelling Chats, other IUFRO meetings and more…

Contributions are invited for a special issue of the journal Forests, on the topic of 'Modeling Aboveground Forest Biomass: New Developments'. Forest biomass modelling is crucial to its monitoring and storage. However, biomass in stands and forests varies according to the species, stand structure and site. Biomass models can be developed using data obtained destructive sampling, forest inventory, remote sensing and ancillary. There is a wide range of data science methods and techniques currently applied in order to fit the models and evaluate their uncertainties. Biomass models can be utilized in order to produce management alternatives. This Special Issue aims to offer an overview of the various data sets and modelling methods currently employed to develop biomass functions, as well as their applicability at both the tree and area levels.

The Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group (FNP), Wageningen University & Research invites applications for three vacancies:

The custodian of soil science will celebrate its centennial contribute to the nature and human wellbeing in 2024. The event will also empower the linkages with different disciplines, policy makers, stakeholders, institutions, and associations to effectively address civil society needs within agriculture, forestry, environment, urban planning, energy, education, and other societal issues.

The celebration will occur on May 19th and will be followed by two intense days of congress, with plenary and parallel scientific sessions. Both soil scientists and specialists from other disciplines will participate to each session, focusing on past achievements and future challenges.

The congress will be followed by technical/scientific excursions that will range from short local to long trips, spanning from Alps to Sicily. A pre-congress visit to Villa Lubin in Rome, the historical place where the IUSS was founded, is scheduled on May 18th.

Effect of climate change on northern ecosystems, carbon balances of forest soils, remote sensing of ecosystem change, modelling of climate change responses using empirical models, field measurements of forest stands, open data resources for climate change, spectral responses of plants in response to stress. The course is an international collaboration arising from the Eco2adapt EU project. The training will include theory lectures, on climate resilience and remote sensing, practical exercises and a field trip to disturbed areas. Other subject studies are dynamics of boreal forests and forestry in the boreal region. Participants will have the opportunity to work in groups, learning how to retrieve remote sensing data, detect and analyse forest change, classify data, as well as making predictions of forest damage (i.e. disturbances).

The Tropical Forests and People Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, is inviting applications for five PhD scholarships that are available for projects related to restoration of degraded tropical forest landscapes. The graduate students will undertake their research as part of a large reforestation project working with communities to restore degraded landscapes in the Philippines.

The Centre is willing to consider students with a range of research interests, but they are particularly looking for potential students to work on topics related to (1) value chains for smallholder-based livelihoods (2) quality of carbon credits, 3) remote sensing and the use of drones in forest carbon projects and (4) total economic value of reforestation funded by carbon credits. One scholarship is also reserved specifically for Filipino applicants (5).

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards recognize and encourage world-class research and cultural creation, prizing contributions of singular impact for their originality and significance.

Candidates may be one or more natural persons of any nationality, without limitation of number, that have made independent or convergent contributions to a given advance, whether due to a formal collaboration (with the nominees belonging to one or more groups) or parallel working. The awards are also open to scientific or cultural organizations that can be collectively credited with exceptional contributions to sci- entific knowledge, cultural creation or the fight against climate change.