Technical, Additional & Special Sessions

Organizer: Prof. Rupert Wimmer (Universitat fur Bodenkultur Wien, Austria - BOKU)
Co-organizer: Dr. Pekka Saranpää (Natural Resources Institute Finland - LUKE)

The forest sector is facing various trends such as increased mix of species and tree ages, greater mix of diameter classes, and increased value of urban and peri-urban forests. These trends result in a greater diversity of quality in solid wood products, as well as in wood-based composites. In addition, to meet the increased global demand for wood, the forest sector needs to increase production; it is desirable to do so without losses of wood quality. How can research and development ensure resilient forest products for future markets? How can wood utilization be optimized under the new conditions in the forest sector and the increased consumer expectations? This session will consider "wood quality" in the context of resilience of forests and forest products that may range from traditional traits, such as knotiness, form (taper), growth rates, density, and tree diameter, to wood microstructure. It will also explore strength, stiffness for structural timber, durability, aesthetics, and hapticity.

Organizer: Prof. Rupert Wimmer (Universitat fur Bodenkultur Wien, Austria - BOKU)
Co-organizer:
Wood always has been and still is one of the most important raw materials for human beings. Throughout time, incorporation of the accumulated experience and knowledge on efficient and appropriate utilization of wood to manufacture various products through choice of the suitable assortments and species has been challenging. Wood with specific property profiles used for the right purpose is an indispensable measure of sustainability and future innovations. Some of the past knowledge has been lost or is disappearing if no action is taken. In this session, crucial knowledge will be re-discovered and compared with today’s scientific achievements; this science-based understanding forms the base from which innovative uses in the next generation will be produced. This session is focused around idea that understanding of the past is seen as an important key for a sustainable utilization of wood.

Organizer: Prof. Rupert Wimmer (Universitat fur Bodenkultur Wien, Austria - BOKU)
Co-organizer: Dr. Eric Hansen (Oregon State University, USA)
The forest sector has seen a wide range of scientific disciplines and technologies. Advances in physics, cell biology and genomics have enabled, for example, new tree-breeding technologies for enhancing wood qualities, improved pest resilience, and the discovery of enzymes that assist the pulping process in papermaking. What are the frontiers in wood science and technology that we will see in the next one to two decades? Will we see a better understanding of bonding phenomena of wood, and/or the development of new lightweight composite structures with increased functionality? What bio-, nano and material sciences will be challenging? Technologies will go towards a radical reduction of specific energy and material consumption -- what unit process requirements will be needed? This session highlights mid- and long-term trends in wood science and technology and identifies new frontiers.

Organizer: Dr. Alexis Achim (Université Laval, Canada)
Co-organizer: Dr. David Auty (Northern Arizona University, USA)
This session aims to bring together scientists from around the world to share ideas and innovations in the fields of forest resource assessment and wood quality modelling. To maintain a sustainable, cost-effective forestry wood chain, forest managers and wood processors must make informed decisions based on accurate information about the variation in wood properties at different spatial scales. The development of new scanning and sensing technologies, and continued advancement of statistical modelling methods and computing capabilities, offer new solutions in this regard. In this session, new technologies and approaches to measuring and modeling wood fibre characteristics will be presented. Talks will focus on new methods of data acquisition and sharing, modelling and simulation methodologies, and on decision support tools for forest managers that can increase efficiency and value in wood processing.

Organizer: Dr. Paul McLean (Forest Research, UK)
Co-organizer: Dr. Pekka Saranpää (Natural Resources Institute Finland - LUKE), Uwe Schmitt (Thünen Institute, Germany)
The session aims to promote scientific discussion on within species variability in wood and bark that are driven by genetics and/or the natural or man-made (e.g. silviculture) environment. The session will pay particular attention to factors that affect the function of wood and bark for the tree and how this has consequences for forest products. The session will consider variability within and between individual trees and how the variability of the material can be characterised or managed throughout the forest wood chain to promote optimisation. This session will be held jointly with the International Association of Wood Anatomists (IAWA).

Organizer: Dr. John Moore (Scion, New Zealand)
Co-organizer: Xiping Wang (USDA Forest Service)
A key component of an improved system for producing bioproducts and bioenergy from forests is the ability to efficiently and accurately assess phenotypic characteristics and wood properties of trees. The aim of this session is to present the most recent advances in non-destructive and precision-based technologies. These include remote sensing technologies such as airborne and terrestrial LiDAR, assessment of wood properties in standing trees and the use of simulation models. The session will also focus on how these technologies and the knowledge obtained from them can support the development of the next generation of forests, e.g. through tree breeding and silviculture.

Organizer: Dr. Xiping Wang (USDA Forest Service)
Co-organizer: Brüchert Franka (Forest Research Institute Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
This session presents the research advances in using innovative nondestructive testing technologies to evaluate raw wood materials, track wood quality information through the forest products value chain (from logs to products or semi-products), and improve production efficiency and performance of end products. Specifically, this session will focus on the use of field-ready nondestructive evaluation (NDE) tools or innovative methods and strategies to maximize the use of raw wood and facilitate the manufacturing of structural timber and engineered wood products such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL), Glulam, cross laminated timber (CLT), etc.

Organizer: Mr. Zarin Pirouz (FPInnovations, Canada)
Co-organizer: Dr. Brigitte Leblon (University of New Brunswick, Canada)
This session focuses on innovations in sensing technologies to help maximize value and optimize utilization of wood throughout the value chain -- from the forest through manufacturing stages, end products, and beyond (service life, recycling). Papers on sensing technologies to detect attributes of wood or derivative products at any stage of processing are welcome. Papers on innovative modeling techniques to handle large volumes of data, interpret multi-mode data, or self-learning detection and modeling algorithms are also welcome.

Organizer: Dr. Siqun Wang (University of Tennessee, USA)
Co-organizer: Jianxiong Lu (Chinese Academy of Forestry, China), Mrs. Manzhen Xiong (Chinese Academy of Forestry)
This session will focus on the design, synthesis, and characterization of various novel biobased nanomaterials for the forest products industry. The topics will include (but not be limited to) the preparation and application of cellulose nano crystals (CNC) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), nano-structure characterization and methodology, aerogels and hydrogels, nanocomposites and their application, and nanomaterial safety.

Organizer: Prof. Scott Renneckar (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Co-organizer:
The future of the forest products industry innovation is focused on next generation materials derived from nanocelluloses, isolated lignin, and hemicelluloses. The objective of this session is to provide clarity of the fundamental properties of components that make up these materials and connect these properties to the performance of next generation composite and carbon fibre based materials.

Organizer: Prof. S. Nami Kartal (Istanbul University, Turkey)
Co-organizer: Dr. Adam M. Taylor (University of Tennessee, USA), Dr. Grant Kirker (USDA Forest Service Forest Products Lab)
The session will focus on newly developed protective chemicals, and techniques to protect wood and wood based building materials. Potential topics include nano technologies, nano-biocides, non-biocidal treatments, green-protecting chemicals, environmental issues of treated wood usage, and future policies on disposal of treated wood.

Organizer: Dr. Andrew Han Hoy Wong (Universiti Malaysia sarawak)
Co-organizer: Dr Rod Stirling (FP Innovations, Canada), Dr Jinzhen Cao (Beijing forestry University, China)
Globally, forest stands with trees that have naturally durable wood are rapidly depleting. As plantations of such trees are slow growing, natural forest replacement via plantations is not a viable option in the near to medium future. The wood of many forest trees has low biological resistance without application of some type of wood protection. Accordingly, as a potential strategy for climate change mitigation, wood protection/treatment helps to secure long-term carbon storage through an extended service life of wood products made from treated material. Furthermore, because the treated wood products last longer, there is a reduced need to cut trees for product replacement. Conversely, the use of unprotected/untreated wood is undesirable from a climate change mitigation perspective: products made from these woods generally have a reduced service life as they break down rapidly and release stored carbon to the atmosphere. This session deals with developments in environmentally acceptable wood protection strategies specifically to enhance the service life of wood products and materials that are exposed to severe terrestrial environments/climates. This session will be held jointly with the International Research Group on Wood Protection (IRGWP).

Organizer: Prof. Julie Cool (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Co-organizer: Prof. Dick Sandberg (Lulea University of Technology, Sweden)
This session will focus on advancements in the area of X-Ray scanning technology and how it can be best implemented in an industrial context. The research in this area is evolving quickly and gaining interest from the forest industry.

Organizer: Prof. Taraneh Sowlati (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Co-organizer:
The session will cover the recent decision support tools and models for strategic, tactical and operational planning decisions in the forest products sector. Presentations will discuss the challenges and recent trends in modeling, assessing and improving the economic, environmental and/or social impacts of forest management, harvesting, transportation, logisitics, manufacturing, and distribution of forest products (including bioproducts). Talks will focus on the important aspects of the models and tools, and/or applications and case studies.

Organizer: Prof. Manfred Gronalt (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria - BOKU)
Co-organizer: Dr. Henry Quesada (Virginia Polytechnic Institute, USA)
This session will discuss: cyber physical production systems, smart wood factories, material consumption and design of material flow in factories, interaction of business processes and new technologies, logistics and supply chain management, lean manufacturing, production control, and process automation.

Organizer: Mr. Alfred Teischinger (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria - BOKU)
Co-organizer: Prof. Marius Catalin Barbu (Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania)
The material wood is derived from forest sources such as semi-natural mixed forests, even-aged mono-cropped forest stands and plantation forestry comprising a wide range of different tree species. This heterogeneous raw material source poses numerous challenges on roundwood allocation and on the process of converting the raw material into a homogeneous and reliable wood-based product with tailored and engineered material properties. This session covers some specific aspects of this forestry-wood conversion chain with a strong focus on new approaches in the mechanical raw material conversion technology and manufacturing processes.

Organizer: Prof. Stavros Avramidis (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Co-organizer: Dr. Luiz Oliveira (FPInnovations)
Kiln drying is paramount in the production of stable and durable wood and wood-based products. During drying, long periods of time and significant amounts of energy are used for accelerated water extraction; this is commonly accompanied by timber shrinkage and other defects mostly related to shape deformations and material integrity. Quality drying tries to minimize time, energy and defects. Although much progress with timber drying has occurred in the last few decades, there is still considerable dependence on trial-and-error to both evaluate the drying of new wood species/products and to develop optimized drying schedules. As fiber is increasingly sourced from plantation vs natural forests, it becomes correspondingly necessary to develop efficient models to predict the drying behavior of various types of wood. This session will focus on process optimization and the creation of the tools to achieve this in a quick and inexpensive way.

Organizer: Prof. Marius C. Barbu (Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania)
Co-organizer: Dr. Marian Marinescu (FP Innovations, Canada)
World roundwood production in 2009 was 3.28 bil. m3; of the top ten countries/regions for roundwood production, industrial use of total roundwood production ranged from over 90% in North America, over 80% in EU27 and over 70% in Russia to less than 50% for Brazil, and less than 10% in India and China. Recent years have seen increased roundwood (wood biomass) demand for use in the production of green energy and of pellets. Green energy generated from wood biomass requires approximately the same raw materials as used in the wood products, and pulp and paper industries. The availability of subsidies such as grants and/or tax reductions, and the number of regulations on environmental protection (waste air, waste water and noise) have created unfair advantages in particular regions/countries and distorted the market for green energy. Furthermore, increases in demand for roundwood use in alternate products, such as pellets, impacts the green energy market. This session will focus on the wood biomass use for pellets production, heating and power generation including the development of equipment, techniques, legislation for environment protection and markets.

Organizer: Dr. Zhiyong Cai (USDA Forest Service Forest Products Lab)
Co-organizer: Prof. Salim Hiziroglu (Oklahoma State University, USA)
Cellulose is the most abundant and renewable natural polymer and it is biocompatible and biodegradable. Nano cellulose materials derived from wood and other biomass have high surface areas, high aspect ratios, and excellent mechanical properties. This session will explore the latest developments in the area of nano cellulose composites and their potential applications. The objectives will be to understand the relationships between nano cellulose raw materials, process, and performance and develop new technologies to engineer nano cellulose-based composites that benefit users, enhance sustainability, and increase the value of wood resources.

Organizer: TBA
Co-organizer: Dr. Mariapaola Riggio (Oregon State, USA), Dr. Arjit Sinha (Oregon State, USA)
The structural use of wood in North America has, until recently, mostly been related to low-rise and mid-rise residential light-frame construction. Lately, legislative changes and the emergence of new mass-timber engineered products enable the use of wood in tall and large buildings. Two of the most promising solutions involve the notions of “mass-timber” such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) and hybrid construction such as timber-steel and timber-concrete systems. The prospect of building larger timber structures creates challenges, amongst them the increased lateral forces created by wind and earthquakes and the increased demand on floor serviceability. The session will examine state-of-the-art research on the challenges and innovative solutions of adopting mass timber structural systems. Considering the global need for more sustainable building solutions, this session is of international interest.

Organizer: Dr. Mariapaola Riggio (Oregon State, USA)
Wood has been used as structural material for centuries and numerous examples demonstrate its durability if properly designed and built, and when adequately assessed and monitored. In recent years, the use of wood in structures has gained new importance, especially considering that it is the only truly renewable building material. There are multiple assessment and monitoring methods available that allow evaluation of certain properties or damages and the combination of different methods is often required to derive a full picture about the integrity of wood structures. The current practice of assessing and monitoring existing wood structures is based on very heterogeneous approaches that are often not sufficient to ensure confident decisions about their reliability and can lead to unnecessary costly rehabilitation measures or premature dismantling. The session will present an overview of the state-of-the-art solutions in the structural assessment and monitoring of wood structures.

Organizer: Prof. Marius C. Barbu (Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania)
Co-organizer: Prof. Milan Sernek (Ljubljana University, Slovenia)
Utilization of wood resources for structural applications, furniture, and interior design necessarily involves the use of adhesives. Wood has been bonded for centuries using bio-based adhesives; only in the 20th century were synthetic adhesives developed. Bonded wood products are assessed according to certain standards which include a limitation on emissions. More recently, the no-added formaldehyde adhesives have been developed to reflect attention to product performance and evolving bio-based outputs, and to meet regulatory requirements and market drivers such as the trend towards green building. The actual and future requirements for low formaldehyde emission panel products will increase the competition between the producers; application of these requirements could create supplementary pressure on the current world financial crises. The resultant complex impacts on the wood processing industry are difficult to foresee. Furthermore, bio-based solutions such as formaldehyde-free resin are not the long term solution in that they are expensive, slow-curing, instable and require high application coverage. This session highlights some of the opportunities and challenges regarding the use No Added Formaldehyde (NAF) adhesives in the manufacturing of wood and ligno-cellulose-based products.

Organizer: Dr. Mark Irle (Ecole Superieure du Bois, Nantes, France)
Co-organizer: Prof. Marius Catalin Barbu (Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania)
Competition for raw materials is very intense in most sectors of the wood industry. The manufacturers of particleboard have, for over a decade, used post-consumer recovered wood in much the same way as the paper industry has successfully used recycled paper products to reduce their manufacturing costs and market their products as being environmentally friendly. Challenges to the use of post-consumer recovered wood such as demolition timbers, old furniture, pallet and packaging, include the necessity of using a sophisticated cleaning system to remove contaminants from the recovered products, the lack of logistical infrastructure for its collection, processing and delivery, and competition for this resource from the new bioenergy generation plants, which are often established with the help of state grants. An alternative to wood-based raw material is non-wood lignocellulosic agricultural residues of which approximately 2.4 billion tons are produced worldwide every year. These lignocellulosic residues are excellent raw materials for production of a wide range of composites that employ various chemical or mechanical methods. In general, the economic feasibility of such uses is influenced by the cost of production, the availability of raw material, and the physical and chemical properties of the lignocellulosic fibers. As with products produced using recycled wood materials, those made from non-wood residues are attractive from an environmental point of view. This session covers all aspects regarding the use of recycled wood and non-wood lignocellulosic materials in the production of composite boards.

Organizer: Dr. Roger Meder (University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia)
Co-organizer: Dr. Andrew Wong (Universiti Malaysia Sarawak)
Production of wood products in the tropics will become increasingly reliant on plantation-grown resources rather than native forests. Two scenarios are emerging; (i) plantation-grown forests based on exotic species (pines, eucalypts), and (ii) domestication and establishment of plantations using native species. Wood properties of plantation-grown trees differ from natural forest trees (shorter rotation, climate change, unimproved germplasm). There is a growing body of local expertise in the tropics that is by necessity paralleling R&D that has been performed in western countries, but with local emphasis and culture, to improve productivity and social impact in these regions. This session will cover all aspects of tropical plantation forestry including; tree improvement, establishment and management, wood quality and wood product assessment, processing and product innovation, pest and disease, climatic change, social impact and economics, maintenance of biodiversity and competing land-use.

Organizer: Dr. Thulasidas P. K. (Kerala Forest Research Institute, India)
Co-organizer: Dr. Henri Baillieres (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Austalia)
Agri-Science Queensland, Horticulture & Forestry Science
50 Evans Road, Salisbury 4107, Queensland
Australia
(Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry)
Teak is the most valuable, high quality tropical hardwood in the world timber market because of its medium density and strength, golden brown color, workability and water repellent properties, and resistance to decay fungi and insects. As the area of natural teak forests has decreased drastically in the past two decades and log exports from some of the countries with these natural teak forests have been banned, the flow of natural teak to the world market has declined sharply and the price of teak round wood has correspondingly increased. Anticipation of unprecedented price increases for teakwood in the near future has led to increased interest and investments in establishing and managing teak plantations. It is certain that in near future, the world’s supply of teakwood will come from short rotation plantations. This session will examine the current international situation with respect to the supply of quality plantation teakwood that can meet the rising demand for hardwood. Other areas of interest include how the marketing of teakwood can be further facilitated through production of genetically improved planting stock, adoptation of enhanced processing technologies, value addition of small dimensional timber products, and appropriate trading policies and standards.

Organizer: Prof. Dominique Lachenal (Grenoble INP, France)
Co-organizer: Dr. Md Sarwar Jahan (BCSIR Laboratories, Bangladesh)
Biorefiney is the operation which transforms biomass into chemicals, polymers and energy. By definition it consists of biomass deconstruction. This sector is experiencing a rapidly growing interest since it represents one attractive option toward the reduction of green house gases GHG and, more generally, toward a greener future. Some of the key players in the wood transformation industries are already actively developing and even implementing processes for the production of fuels, biochemicals and polymers at an industrial scale. The objective of this session is to learn more about the processes which may offer opportunities to deconstruct wood into carbohydrates, lignin and extractives.

Organizer: Prof. Dominique Lachenal (Grenoble INP, France)
Co-organizer: Dr. Md Sarwar Jahan (BCSIR Laboratories, Bangladesh)
Cellulose, sugars and lignin are the main products of wood biorefinery operations. Cellulose already has several mature markets such as paper, textile, plastics, and food additives. The markets for sugars and lignin derivatives are very few. However, it is thought that the use of these wood components to produce chemicals (building blocks, prebiotics, surface active agents), films, plastics, adhesives, etc. offers a huge potential as replacement for their fossil fuel-based counterparts. The main objective of this session is to present the latest developments in the use of wood carbohydrates (monomers, oligomers and polymers) and lignin, for the manufacture of higher value bioproducts and biomaterials.

Organizer: Dr. Jack Saddler (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Co-organizer:
The use of biofuels to displace fossil fuels used in transportation can result in a significant reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This is a topic of significant global interest as demonstrated by the work of the International Energy Agency (IEA). For sectors such as aviation “biojet” is the only alternative to fossil-based jet fuel. Biojet fuels have to be drop-in fuels which are functionally equivalent to fossil based jet fuel and compatible with existing infrastructure. Although feedstocks such as used cooking, palm or canola oil will be used as the feedstock in the short-to-midterm, in the longer-term, forest biomass will be a key feedstock for the production of such biofuels. Various groups in the Pacific NorthWest, such as UBC, Univ. Washington and WSU have been investigating the production of biojet from forest biomass. The work of these groups and others involved in the IEA will be profiled.

Organizer: Dr. Howard Rosen (USDA Forest Service)
Co-organizer: Prof. Yang Ping (Kumamoto University, Japan)
Forest products have provided a rich heritage to many parts of the world, as reflected in the ancient and modern wood trade, contemporary art and literature, and the many varied uses of forest products. Different regions of the world have developed distinct wood cultural traditions using various products from the forest. This session will provide a better understanding of the historical, religious, artistic and other social values of wood and forest culture. Talks will emphasize the economic, environmental, and scientific impacts to different regions or countries in the world as a result of these social values.

Organizer: Mrs. Anne-Helene Mathey (Canadian Forest Service, NRCan)
Co-organizer:
Structural transformation is affecting the traditional forest sector on several fronts simultaneously, particularly in terms of global market convergence, ownership structure, and capital investment, with implications for the traditional forest industry. At the same time, forests are increasingly recognized for their social, cultural, and ecological services, and are emerging as an excellent opportunity to develop sustainable production systems while meeting climate change mitigation targets (e.g. bioeconomy or bioindustries strategies across the globe). Forest fibre can be turned into products as diverse as heat, power, structural building materials, car parts, food additives, industrial chemicals and strengthening agents, which often have a much lower environmental footprint than traditional products. To adapt to this new reality, innovative technologies won’t be enough: new business models and new supply chains will need to establish. This session will examine the role of government, industry and society in this transformation.

Organizer: Dr. Richard Vlosky (Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, USA)
Co-organizer: Dr. Chris Gaston (University of British Columbia, Canada), Dr. Francisco X. Aguilar (University of Missouri)
Over the past 15 years, the global wood-based BioEnergy sector has dramatically evolved into what is now a major part of international forestry. Billions of dollars in investments have been made to research, create and commercialize new energy sources, fuels, chemicals, and value-added co-products. This session will examine the structural, policy, and business infrastructures of this nascent global sector. In addition, business and governmental leaders will share experiences, opportunities, and challenges in this ever-changing arena.

Organizer: Mr. Andrew Dunningham (Scion, New Zealand)
Co-organizer: Karen Bayne (Scion, New Zealand), John Moore (Scion, New Zealand)
Innovation in forestry is oft-times focused on firm level productivity. An interconnected value chain approach is needed to build co-operative knowledge exchange and interdisciplinary input on the problem. Technological innovation systems are a step change from the traditional linear technology transfer and are evolutionary, multidisciplinary, and take a systemic oversight to engage with multiple stakeholders using co-innovation approaches. The principles of co-innovation are proving an effective means to accelerate sectoral change. This session focuses on overcoming barriers through engagement with multiple stakeholders using co-innovation approaches, for shared problem development.

Organizer: Dr. Eric Hansen (Oregon State University, USA)
Co-organizer: Anne Toppinen (Univeristy of Helsinki, Finland), Toshiaki Owari (University of Tokyo, Japan)
The interaction between society and forests is highly influenced by business and marketing practices throughout the value chains that process and transport forest-based products from forest to consumer. Environmental marketing, ecolabeling, supply chain optimization, and design for environment are examples of current practices that can contribute to a greener future. This session covers potential demand increases for timber and ecoservices that can be expected via a greener future. Overall, the session addresses cutting edge business and marketing theory and practice with a special focus on contributions to a greener future.

Organizer: Mr. Mark Kaustinen (FP Innovations, Canada)
Co-organizer:
This session will review the barriers and opportunities to greater market acceptance of prefabrication in midrise and tall wood buildings. Though most modern tall wood buildings use prefabrication as a key part of the construction solution, barriers remain to greater adoption and use in other building forms such as midrise residential. Products needed, potential volumes, future solutions and impact on the forest industry structure, along with examples of projects and solutions used, will be reviewed. An overview of research and development efforts needed to advance successful adoption of wood based solutions will be presented.

Organizer: Michael Burnard (University of Primorska, Slovenia)
Co-organizer: David Fell (FP Innovations, Canada)
This session will relate evidence based on examinations of wood use in buildings and other built objects that highlight product developments, usage cases, and material characteristics in relation to their impacts on building users, society, and ecological settings. Topics may include: wood use in restorative environmental and regenerative design, wood use in ergonomic interventions, wood use that affects cultural and social engagement with buildings and built objects, wood use in relation to cultural heritage engagement. The session aims to highlight new related research, and to shift the discourse on wood use in buildings from minimising harm to maximising positive effects.

Organizer: Ms. Andrea Lyall University of British Columbia, Canada)
Co-organizer: Dr. Chris Gaston (University of British Columbia, Canada)
The goal of this session is to bring forward case studies that share successes and challenges of value creation within Indigenous forests. Example case studies will include Indigenous owned business and partnership models in the forest products value chains, including forest operations, energy production, housing, non-timber forest products, primary and value-added product and market development.

Organizer: Prof. Carsten Smith-Hall (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Co-organizer: Dr. Mariève Pouliot (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Medicinal plants are commonly assumed to be crucial for the health care of millions of people. However, little research has been done to quantify the reliance on medicinal plants and its determinants. Is poverty linked with medicinal plant consumption? Is it more prevalent in rural and remote areas of the global south where access to allopathic medicine is inadequate? This session will explore the state of knowledge on the degree of reliance of people around the world on medicinal plants. Moreover, it will shed light on the reasons motivating the consumption of medicinal plants, as well as on the characteristics of their consumers.

Organizer: Dr. James Chamberlain (USDA Forest Service)
Co-organizer: Sven Mutke (National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology, Spain -INIA)
Best forest management practices provide multiple goods and services for society while protecting and maintaining ecosystem functions. The integration of non-timber forest products into timber-focused management expands the potential to achieve these and other objectives. Co-production requires consideration of a broad spectrum of biotic, abiotic, and social factors. Balance between spatial, temporal, and economic scales is necessary for sustainable sourcing of all products and services. Increased management complexity should not be a deterrent but rather an incentive to increase utility and health of forest ecosystems so as to provide a broad array of products. This session will explore nuances of integrating non-timber products into forest management to achieve optimal production. Presentations are desired that examine a broad spectrum of issues regarding co-production.

Organizer: Dr. James Chamberlain (USDA Forest Service)
Co-organizer:
The forest products sector has focused primarily on wood-based products, yet forests provide more than timber. Before the technology existed to harvest trees for wood, people were gathering food, medicine and other essential items from forests. Even though these non-timber forest products have been essential to the livelihoods of millions of people around the world, they only have recently received due attention. This technical session will elucidate knowledge about non-timber forest products and the challenges of providing them to meet society’s demands in the near and long-term. Presentations of innovative and optimal provisioning of these products will be encouraged.

Organizer: Dr. Michelle Baumflek (Virginia Polytechnic Institute, USA)
Co-organizer: Dr. James Chamberlain (USDA Forest Service), Dr. Nataliya Stryamets (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) contribute to livelihoods and cultural identities of people across the world, yet they remain underrepresented in forest management and planning. Local and indigenous peoples hold Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), a cumulative and adaptive body of knowledge accumulated over generations of interactions with local environments, that can contribute to sustainable NTFP management. This includes detailed knowledge about habitat conditions and stewardship strategies for plants and fungi that promote desirable qualities for producing foods, crafts, medicines and utilitarian items. This technical session will explore how TEK can enhance management of both the species and habitats essential for NTFP production.

Organizer: Dr. Nataliya Stryamets (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)
Co-organizer: Dr. James Chamberlain (USDA Forest Service)
Forests have provided non-timber forest products (NTFPs) that sustain local communities for Millennia. Today, the role of NTFPs for local livelihoods differs in time and space. International policies highlight the importance of NTFPs globally. NTFP governance has emerged as an integrated part of forest governance. NTFPs governance is about rules, norms and institutions, including management regulations and decision-making process, as well as accesses to the resources. There are debates among different actors, stakeholders and organizations on how to govern NTFPs. The technical section will discuss the governance of NTFPs by formal and informal institutions at multiply levels. The presentations that highlight the issues of NTFPs governance are welcome.

Organizer: Mr. Felix Böck (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Co-organizer: Prof. Greg Smith (University of British Columbia, Canada)
The session will showcase the latest advances in engineered bamboo products and the development of sustainable business opportunities. International experts from different industries, academia and the World Bamboo Organization will present these on themes and discuss the importance of the future role of bamboo as an sustainable alternative to tropical timber.

Organizer: Dr. Yan Yu (International Center for Bamboo and Rattan, China - ICBR)
Co-organizer: Dr. Fei Benhua (International Center for Bamboo and Rattan, China - ICBR), Dr. Fu Jinhe (International Network for Bamboo and Rattan, China -INBAR)
This session will focus on new advancements in the utilization of bamboo and rattan resources. Bamboo and rattan are important non-timber forest resources with combined economic, ecological and social benefits such as providing local employment and reducing dependence on timber. Bamboo is currently used in construction, decoration, furniture, paper making, packaging, transportation, pharmacy, food, textile, chemical industry and other fields. Rattan is mainly used for the production of furniture, handicrafts and decorative materials. Increasing, scientific research on the development of new processing and utilization technology for bamboo and rattan are helping to ensure the sustainable development of bamboo and rattan resources.

Organizer: Dr. Richard Bergman (USDA Forest Products Laboratory, US)
Co-organizer: James Salazar (Athena Sustainable Materials Institute, Canada), Arno Fruehwald (University of Hamburg, Germany)
All products including wood building and wood energy products have environmental impacts although wood products are considered greener than non-wood products. Because of the large carbon flows associated with forestry and wood products, net greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions and their resulting contributions to climate change need to be categorized. The use of sustainable wood products with lower net GHG emissions shows decreased contributions to climate change via life-cycle analysis (LCA). This session will examine LCA as a holistic method to evaluate building and energy products and associated GHG emissions tied to climate change for their ‘greenness’. Using LCA to provide insight into other critical environmental impacts, carbon accounting and multi-criteria analyses will also be included.

Organizer: Dr. Robert Deal (USDA Forest Service)
Co-organizer: Lu Wenming (Chinese Academy of Forestry)
This session will broadly address emerging global themes for forest products and the role of forest certification to integrate wood production within sustainable forest management. This session will specifically assess different aspects of forest certification including impacts on forest management and timber markets; effects for forest workers and communities affected by certified forest management; quality of certification audits; governance and authority of certification schemes. The session provides a forum for researchers who study forest certification, economic and social benefits of certified forest products all within the broad context of sustainable forest management.

Organizer: Ms. Ngaio Hotte (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Co-organizer: Dr. Stephen Wyatt (Université de Moncton, Canada)
The role of Indigenous peoples in forest management has grown considerably in recent years, often through innovative collaborative arrangements between Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments. These arrangements can generate a range of economic benefits encompassing wood and non-wood forest products, support more equitable forest tenure systems and shape management institutions that empower Indigenous peoples. This session will introduce recent developments and innovative approaches to collaborative forest management involving Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments and industry that are currently or have the potential to generate a range of wood and non-wood forest products.

Organizer: Dr. Robert Deal (USDA Forest Service)
Co-organizer: Dr. Sudipta Dasmohapatra (North Carolina State University, USA), Vicki Herian (Society of Wood Science and Technology, USA - SWST)
This session will discuss the positive role that ecosystem services and markets play for improving the lives of people including economic contributions, health benefits and ecological and social benefits of forests. This session will focus on ecosystem services and markets, and how these services relate to more traditional forest products, the role of carbon sequestration, water quality and quantity, wetland and conservation mitigation banking. The session provides a forum for researchers who study the health benefits of forests, economic and social benefits of forest products, ecosystem services and markets, and how to integrate wood production within sustainable forest management.

Organizer: Mr. Denis Cormier (FP Innovations, Canada)
Co-organizer: Dr. Vincent Roy (Canadian Wood Fibre Centre)
New and innovative ways will need to be developed along the supply chain to identify and send the right fibre to the right mill at the right time for the efficient and sustainable utilization of forest products. This session will focus on 3 related topics : Remote sensing technologies to improve tactical inventory and identify fibre characteristics; logistical tools to optimize fibre utilization; and modelling supply in a context of fibre degradation from natural disturbances.

Organizer: Dr. Robert Smith (Virginia Polytechnic Institute, USA)
Co-organizer: Sudipta Dasmohapatra (North Carolina State University, USA)
Online education, distance learning, innovative internships, undergraduate research, and experiential learning are some of the new teaching and learning methods now required to meet the needs of a changing student population and widely varying pedagogies in wood science education across the world. This session is designed for educators to share their most innovative classroom techniques, discuss their successes and failures, and how they are impacting the learning environment. Additionally, speakers are invited to discuss innovative course content and non-traditional and impactful career opportunities for student success and program sustainability.

Organizer: Dr. Eric Hansen (Oregon State University, USA), Dr. Andrew Han Hoy Wong (Universiti Malaysia sarawak)
Co-organizer: Pekka Saranpää (Natural Resources Institute Finland - LUKE), Jamie Barbour (USDA, Forest Service)
This proposal is to provide opportunities for individuals, that are still in their studies at institutions of higher learning or that are up to three years post-PhD, to make a 5-minute oral presentation of their findings in the field of wood science and technology or other forest-related disciplines that are linked to forest products. The primary goal is to incorporate as many early stage researchers into an oral presentation session as possible; the criteria for the short oral presentation is based on the example of the three-minute-thesis (http://threeminutethesis.org/). This session is an IUFRO-International Forestry Students Association (IFSA)-Society of Wood Science and Technology (SWST) collaboration adopting the successfully convened IUFRO-IFSA sessions held during the 24th IUFRO World Congress at Salt Lake City, 2014 or that of recent SWST meetings. It is proposed that session moderators come from Unit 5.00.00 and be co-moderated by IFSA and SWST representatives.

Organizer: Dr. Eric Hansen (Oregon State University, USA)
Co-organizer: Robert Smith (Virginia Polytechnic Institute, USA), Vicki Herian (Society of Wood Science and Technology, USA - SWST)
The Society of Wood Science and Technology (SWST) annually provides a Distinguished Service Award. This session will include presentations by the 2016 and 2017 DSA recipients as well as a number of their past students and/or colleagues that can illustrate the impact of the recipient’s scientific work on their own research and career success.

Organizer: Dr. Jack Saddler (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Co-organizer:
The International Academy of Wood Science (the “Academy”) is a non-profit assembly of wood scientists that recognizes all fields of wood science, their associated technological domains, and has worldwide representation. The Academy Lecture honors distinguished achievements in the science of wood, which in turn encourages high standards of research and publication. The Academy Lectures are presented in different parts of the world and in connection with meetings of related professional organizations.

Organizer: Dr. Ian de la Roche (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Co-organizer:
Increasing concerns from a growing world population about the impacts of climate change and depletion of non-renewable resources coupled with the emergence of disruptive technologies such as genomics, nanotechnology and digital/ICT breakthroughs have created unprecedented opportunities for the bio-economy and forest sector. International academic and not-for-profit institutional research in the forest sector are considered strong when compared to other sectors. However, business innovation in the forest sector is considered by many to be weak by international standards and the primary cause of weak productivity growth and declining competitiveness in recent years. Various international forestry research and innovations models have been proposed and successfully implemented to address such issues as: greater focus on disruptive technologies and commercial solutions, building new partnerships within and outside of the traditional forest sector, strengthening technology receptor capacity within companies, optimizing both current and future product value streams and capitalizing on the bio-economy window. This session will cover presentations from a selection of international speakers whose organizations have developed successful models for translating discovery and invention into innovations which have led subsequently to productivity improvements, GDP growth and measurable social and environmental benefits within their respective countries.