Future Forest workshop: A joint dialogue on Forestry, management and Animal behaviour

The goal of the workshop was to foster mutual understanding between these fields to improve wildlife management practices in ways that benefit both human populations and wildlife. Additionally, it aimed to encourage constructive dialogue between students from two distinct, highly regarded institutions that excel in their respective areas of research. Hopefully, this will lay the groundwork for future collaborations.

The workshop took place over two days: one in Vienna on the February 11, and one in Umeå on February 18, hosted by SLU. Participants included students from Vet Med and BOKU universities in Austria, as well as SLU Umeå and Umeå University in Sweden.

Both workshops began with a series of morning talks by researchers from in animal behaviour and forest science. The speakers were the following:

Wiebke Neumann – Moose movement ecology in Sweden

Michaela Masilkova - From captive primate studies to wildlife research: Bridging basic and applied animal behavior science.

Valeria Mazza - Smarts in the city: individual differences in behaviour and cognition in human-modified habitats.

Pizza Ka Yee Chow - Squirrel cognition and behaviour:  a comparison between urban and wild populations.

Bruno Esattore - A multidisciplinary approach to grant writing.

In the afternoon, workshops continued with interactive activities using Mentimeter, to get to know each other's backgrounds and experiences. This was followed by open discussions on interdisciplinary work, sharing thoughts on how combining animal behaviour and forest science could enhance current and future research.

The final activity varied between the two locations. In Vienna, there was a discussion on how to apply for grants successfully in the research field. In Umeå, the group split into smaller groups to make a mock grant proposal on subject ideas suggested by the group.

All participants were then included in a Teams group to make sure there was opportunity to further collaborate and network.

Thanks to Laura Saggiomo for report and photos.