Portrait photo of Ida Wallin

Ida Wallin

Researcher, Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre
E-mail
ida.wallin@slu.se
Mobile phone
+46761353349
Researcher in forest policy and governance.

Presentation

Why do we manage forests the way we do? Departing from curiosity about the social and political aspects of forestry I wrote my doctorate in the field of forest management, planning and policy at the Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, SLU. I my dissertation I focused on issues of social practices, trust and multiple-use forestry on different governance levels. During my postdoc at the University of Freiburg I conducted research about participatory governance related to forests in Europe and flood risk management in Ghana. I have also done research on political aspects of the forest-based bioeconomy and social media debates, as well as knowledge co-production concerning ecosystem services. In several of these projects I have conducted transdisciplinary action research, participatory modelling and foresight studies.

Research

Current position

  • 2023 Jun - present. Researcher at SLU Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre.

Previous research positions

  • 2022 Aug - 2023 May. Researcher and project coordinator. Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden. 
  • 2017 Dec-2022 July. Researcher and lecturer. Chair of Forest and Environmental Policy at University of Freiburg, Germany. LINK
  • 2017 May-Nov. Postdoctoral researcher. Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden.
  • 2012-2017. Doctoral student. Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden.
  • 2012 June-Dec. Research assistant. Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden.

Previous research projects & collaborations 

  • 2023-2024: SLU Future Forests platform. LINK.
  • 2023-2024: ForGEDI MOOC - Gender equality, diversity and inclusion in forest-related sectors: developing and evaluating a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Funding: SLU Global (400 000 SEK for development), FSC International (5000 EUR for dissemination), The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) (248 000 SEK for evaluation), SNS Nordic Forest Research (5000 EUR for open access 2025-2026).
  • 2023-2024: IUFRO Task Force on Gender Equality in Forestry - development of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for forestry students and professionals. Funding body: SLU Global. LINK
  • 2021-2023: YAS - Young Academy for Sustainability Research at FRIAS, University of Freiburg. LINK
  • 2022-2023: Climate Transitions in Contested Forests: Justice and governance in digital times. Funding body: Formas.
  • 2020-2022: PARADeS – Participatory assessment of flood related disaster prevention and development of an adapting coping system in Ghana. Funding body: BMBF.
  • 2018-2020: PerForm - Perceiving the Forest-based Bioeconomy. Funding body: EFI Networking fund.
  • 2013-2016: ORCHESTRA COST-Action FP1207 - Orchestrating forest-related policy analysis in Europe. Funding body: EU COST-Action.
  • 2012-2015: INTEGRAL – Future-oriented integrated management of European forested landscapes. Funding body: EU FP7 Seventh Framework Programme.

Research projects

Research groups

Teaching

Since 2013 I have taught more than 30 classes at BSc and MSc levels at the University of Freiburg, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Uppsala University. My teaching and lecturing cover the fields of Forest and Environmental Policy, Participatory Governance, Bioeconomy, Ecosystem management, Foresight studies, Participatory action research (PAR), and Social science theory and methods. 

Supervision 

BSc and MSc students

Since 2015 I have supervised 29 MSc theses and 3 BSc thesis at University of Freiburg (18) and at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (14).

Doctoral students

Anna Karlsson (2023-2027) Co-creating advisory services and planning for diversified management in Swedish family forestry. Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden. Co-creator project. Assistant supervisor since 19th of June 2023.

Isak Lodin (2015-2020) Current versus Alternative Forest Management Practices in Southern Sweden. Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden. ALTERFOR project. Assistant supervisor from 18th of April 2017.

Educational credentials

Degrees

  • 2017: PhD in Forest Management, Policy and planning at Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Dissertation title: Forest Management and Governance in Sweden - A Phronetic Analysis of Social Practices (LINK). Dissertation date 7th of April 2017.
  • 2013: MA in Forestry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
  • 2012: MSc in Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
  • 2011: BSc in Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Service & engagements

Awards & stipends

  • 2019: Outstanding Doctoral Research Award (ODRA), International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). 
  • 2017: Stipend King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 50-years anniversary fund for science, technology and environment for research about sustainable private forestry.

Selected publications

  • Mack, Philipp, Ida Wallin, Mariella Susann Zwickel, Jonas Pfistner, Lena König, & Daniela Kleinschmit (2025). Shouting into the void? German forest dieback 2.0 debate on Twitter. A case study to operationalize the analysis of discursive power in Hybrid Media Systems. Forest Policy and Economics 172 (103447). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103447
  • Haltia, E. et al. (2025). Forest Owners’ and Forestry Stakeholders’ Perceptions, in P. Rautio et al. (eds) Continuous Cover Forestry in Boreal Nordic Countries. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland (Managing Forest Ecosystems), pp. 273–286. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-70484-0_15
  • Wallin, I., & Brukas, V. (2024). Training forestry students for uncertainty and complexity: The development and assessment of a transformative roleplay. International Forestry Review, 26(1), 93–109. https://doi.org/10.1505/146554824838457880
  • Malmborg, K., Wallin, I., Brukas, V., Do, T., Lodin, I., Neset, T.-S., Norström, A. V., Powell, N., & Tonderski, K. (2022). Knowledge co-production in the Helge å catchment: A comparative analysis. Ecosystems and People, 18(1), 565–582. https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2022.2125583 

Related links