Advancing Silvicultural Technology

Last changed: 28 February 2023

The goal of the project is to attract and connect various competences in the Nordic-Baltic (NB) region in order to promote boosted RDI activities in the transition to forest based bioeconomy. We believe this network will promote performance of urgent interregional/institutional/competence R&D- and networking projects and also act as an important network portal for young researchers.

The long-term aim is to support the future provision of multiple ecosystem services from NB forests. This by gathering expertize in forest sciences and technology with targeted focus of multifunctional silviculture. The primary objective is to organize a conference to 1) provide an overview of ongoing R&D in the NB region and 2) develop an overview of urgent and strategic R&D needs, to secure and engineer sustainable ecosystems services for current and future forests. We also include industry, NGO’s, practitioners, authorities and researchers (including students) in order to support discussions of long-term development and inter-triad-transfer of knowledge. The second objective is to create an inter-disciplinary-national-sector-connected platform in Nordic-Baltics for systematic and continual R&D. The third aim is to initiate future networking activities and new joint R&D project proposals.

The Conference is as a joint arrangement between SNS, IUFRO, SLU, LUKE, NIBIO, SILAVA, InNovaSilva ApS and Estonian University of Life Sciences and is financed by the SNS: https://nordicforestresearch.org/ The running time of the project is 2023-2024 and project budget is 1MSEK.

Conference: Advancing Silvicultural Technology Umeå August 22-24th 2023

SLU Campus Umeå, Sweden - August 22-24th 2023

The objectives of the conference are to present ongoing R&D in the Nordic-Baltic region on forest management systems and technology and to discuss future R&D needs. Researchers, undergraduate- and PhD students as well as professionals from operational forestry, forest authorities and industry and other forest organizations are welcome to participate.

The Conference is free-of-charge, all-inclusive (coffee, lunch, dinner, seminar, excursion etc.). Participation at the Seminar, Day 1 and 3, including giving a 5-min flash-presentation, can be done digitally, in Zoom. Working language is English.

Conference Topics

Please indicate Silvicultural Activity (A-E) and Technology Area (1-8) when submitting Abstracts, e.g. A.3 (Soil preparation and Management and business…)

The main silvicultural Activities covered are (others activities may also be accepted):

A: Soil preparation.
B. Direct seeding and planting.
C. Young stand management.
D. Reducing impact of ungulates.
E. Other.

The main areas of silvicultural Technology are (other areas may also be accepted):

Operational models.
Methods and tools, simulations and systems analyses of silvicultural systems and services.
Management and business development of silvicultural services.
Precision forestry.
Sensors and big data.
Automation and robotics.
Open forest and nature data.
Other.

Day 1 (22 Aug) - 09 – 17

Seminar (key-note speakers + others and posters), Conference dinner in evening

Day 2 (23 Aug): 09 – 17

Field excursions, Conference dinner in evening

Day 3 (24 Aug): 09 – 12

Seminar (key-note speakers + others and posters), 13 – 17 Workshop, summary and conclusions of the conference

Presentation options: Oral speech 15+5 min (in-place), Digital 5 min flash-presentation (on-line and in-place), Poster presentation (on-place).

Call for abstracts: March 1st – May 1st, Abstracts will be compiled and published in SLU report series (available on-line) after the conference. Submitting extended abstract is an option, particularly for students!

Deadlines: Submission of Abstracts May 1st; Acceptance of Abstracts notification May 15th, Registration for Conference June 12th

Registration, Abstract submission and Contact: Dan Bergström,
Associate Professor, Division of Forest Operations, Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences (SLU), Umeå, Sweden. dan.bergstrom@slu.se, +46907868214, +46730498014

Travelling and accommodation information:

The train-station is in city center of Umeå and the Airport is just few kilometers from city center and campus. SLU Campus is very close to Umeå city center were you find many hotels to choose from; the walking distance is ca 20-30min. Conference dinners will be in city center. At the excursion day, a bus will arrive in city center and pick you up. To get to Campus, just walk or take the local bus.

Travel: https://visitumea.se/en/travel

Hotels: https://visitumea.se/en/hotels-umea

SLU Campus Umeå: https://www.slu.se/en/about-slu/locations/slu-umea/