Dianne Staal Wästerlund

I teach in several courses in the Forest Science programme. I am course leader for the course Forestry from an organizational theory related perspective, a 15 credits' course that is given in the 5th year of the programme. The students build an understanding of organizational theories and analyse how organizations in the Swedish forestry sector have chosen to organize themselves.

My research has been focussed on the loyalty of forest owners towards their business partners in the forest sector and the owners' attitude towards the quality of the services that they buy from forestry organizations. I also analysed what factors seem to explain the interest of adult offspring to forest owners to take over their parents' forest property. This research is interesting for the future development of the private forestry sector.

My PhD work concerned heat stress in forestry work. Forestry work is physically demanding work especially in tropical countries where manual working methods still dominate. The body produces a lot of heat during this type of work which can be difficult to dissipate in a warm climate. The heat can also become an occupational hazard when using protective equipment.

I am head of the Forest Planning division and also function as the environmental coordinator for SLU in Umeå

I teach in the following courses:

Forestry from an organizational theory related perspective (15 credits)

Marketing and organisation - management of bioresources (7,5 credits)

Industrial Wood Supply Strategy - part on tactical planning

Practical Forestry - part on ergonomics and rule technique 

Originaly I come from the Netherlands and have my master degree from Wageningen University

Before I started my career at SLU I worked as an associate forestry expert at the International Labour organization (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland 

I have been deputy supervisor in the following doctoral thesis projects:

Knowledge in the forest planning process

Forest owners' associations in a changing society

Normally I supervise several students working on their MSc thesis every year. 

Staal Wästerlund, D. 1998.  A review of heat stress research with application to forestry. Applied Ergonomics, 29/3:179-183.

Staal Wästerlund, D. 2001. Heat stress in forestry work. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Suecia, Silvestria 213. Doctoral thesis. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Staal Wästerlund, D. 2002. Evaluation of methods for estimating the metabolic rate according to ISO 8996 in forestry work. Southern African Forestry Journal, 193:39-46.

Staal Wästerlund, D. Chaseling, J. & Burström, L. 2004. The effect of fluid consumption on the forest workers’ performance strategy. Applied Ergonomics, 35(1):29-36.

Staal Wästerlund D, Chaseling J. 2005. Physiological and labour-productive effects of fluid consumption during forestry work. I Bust P.D. & McCabe P.T. (reds) Contemporary Ergonomics 2005, Taylor & Francis, London, 217 – 221.

Wilhelmson E, Staal Wästerlund D, Burström L., Bylund P-O. 2005. Public health effects of accidents in self-employed forestry work. Small-scale forest management, policy and economics, 4(4), 427 - 436.

Nilsson M, Staal Wästerlund D, Wahlberg O, Eriksson L-O. 2012 Forest planning i a Swedish company – a knowledge management analysis of forest information. Silva Fennica, 46(5):717-731.

Kronholm T, Staal Wästerlund D. 2013. District Council Members and the Importance of Member Involvement in Organization Renewal Processes in Swedish Forest Owners' Associations. Forests 4(2):404-432.

Nilsson M, Eriksson L-O, Staal Wästerlund D. 2013 Strategy pattern creation in Forest Planning in Swedish Forest-Owning Companies. Forests 4(3):553-574.

Staal Wästerlund D & Kronholm T. 2014. Market analysis of harvesting services engaged by private forest owners in Sweden. Scandinavian Forest Economics no. 45, 2014.Proceedings of the  Scandinavian Society of Forest Economist biennial conference, 21 – 23 May 2014 , Uppsala, p 111-119.

Nilsson M, Staal Wästerlund D, Wahlberg O, Eriksson L-O. 2017. The use of forest information in timber sales planning – a case study in a Swedish forest owning company. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 32(4):320-326. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2016.1245356

Staal Wästerlund D, Kronholm T. 2017. Family forest owners’ commitment to service providers and the effect of association membership on loyalty. Small-scale forestry 16(2):275-293. DOI: 10.1007/s11842-016-9359-5

Kronholm T, Staal Wästerlund D. 2017 Elucidation of young adults’ relationships to forests in northern Sweden using forest story cards.  Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 32(7):607-616. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2016.1269942.

Staal Wästerlund D. 2018. Factors affecting the interest of adult offspring in succeeding their parents as forest owners. Forests 9(11):668, https://doi.org/10.3390/f9110668.