Are you interested in becoming a Teaching Assistant in Forest and Conservation Sciences?
To view the available job postings, download the PDF below:
Interested applicants should apply through the Forestry TA Application Portal by April 30, 2026.
Please note that positions posted are available subject to course enrollments, provision of funds, and application of suitable candidates.
Are you interested in becoming a Teaching Assistant in Wood Science?
To view the available job postings, download the PDFs below:
Interested applicants should apply through the Forestry TA Application Portal by April 30, 2026.
Please note that positions posted are available subject to course enrollments, provision of funds, and application of suitable candidates.
Research Assistant – Sustainable Built Environment Lab, UBC
I had the opportunity to continue the light frame wood construction project at UBC’s Sustainable Built Environment Lab. In this phase, I focused on timber-to-timber connection systems and how they might support more reversible construction. I tested joinery-inspired ideas, guided by the Design for Deconstruction guide. And the final goal is to see which concepts were actually workable within light-frame construction.
Much of the work involved small prototypes, learning from what failed, and recognizing the limits of certain “reversible” ideas in practice. This experience gave me a more grounded understanding of how design, fabrication, and material behaviour intersect, and how timber connections can contribute to more circular building systems.
Dr. Suzanne Simard, Professor of Forest Ecology at the Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship is publishing her second book: ‘When the Forest Breathes”, an immersive journey through the heart and soul of the forest to experience the workings and impact of the rich ecosystems. The novel also explores the impact and contribution of Indigenous people in protecting these forests for millennia, and that there is much to learn from their way of seeing, caring for, and tending the forest.
We interviewed her at the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest to learn more about her writing process and the inspiration behind her book.
In the last couple of hundred years, forests have been deeply impacted by forestry practices and colonial stewardship. Through my work, including the Mother Tree Project, I have investigated the condition of our forests—what they are telling us about how to care for them and how listening to Indigenous voices can help guide the path forward to keep forests healthy and resilient.
We have learned many things about forest biodiversity, how forests store carbon, how they interact with climate, and how we can better protect these incredible places. My earlier work in Finding the Mother Tree focused on the connections within forests how trees are interconnected in communities through fungal networks called mycorrhizal networks.
These networks bind trees together, and we discovered that large, old trees what we call mother trees, serve as central hubs in these networks. This helps us see forests as whole ecosystems rather than separate elements like trees, soil, or fungi.
In When the Forest Breathes, I talk more about how we have been disrupting these connections through modern forest management. I also describe better ways forward, such as protecting large old trees, soils, and forest floors, to maintain the vitality and regenerative capacity of forests. The book points to new ways of tending forests while also drawing on ancestral knowledge rooted in care, respect, and reciprocity.
We are currently facing several environmental crises. Climate change is real and affects the everyday lives of people across Canada and around the world. At the same time, we are experiencing a biodiversity crisis, with scientists warning that we are in the sixth mass extinction.
Forests play a huge role in stabilizing these systems and helping mitigate these losses. The book discusses how we can protect forests and also log them more responsibly so we can still obtain materials while doing so in a gentler way that protects plants and carbon pools. If managed properly, forests can help solve climate change rather than contribute to it.
Another important issue is wildfire. Canada—especially western Canada and western North America—has been experiencing increasing wildfire activity. The book discusses how these fires affect our lives and how we can help forests become more resilient to fire. By strengthening forest ecosystems, we can also help society better deal with these wildfire challenges.
I work with a number of First Nations across British Columbia, both along the coast and in the interior. Together we are incorporating Indigenous perspectives that view forests as connected systems in which humans are part of the natural cycle.
When we understand forests in this respectful way, it changes how we manage them. I collaborate with several Indigenous leaders and communities across the province. Together we are exploring ways to protect old trees—especially cedar trees, which are considered the tree of life for many coastal nations.
We are also working to restore forests that have been damaged by industrial forestry over the past century. Many of these lands are now covered by second-growth forests that are not in healthy condition. These ecosystems require careful restoration and stewardship.
In the interior regions, we are also working on approaches that reduce wildfire risk while improving biodiversity and ecosystem health so forests can better withstand climate change.
I have been a professor at the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Stewardship at the University of British Columbia for 23 years. Before that, I was an undergraduate student there in the early 1980s, so I have been connected to the faculty for a long time.
All of my work builds on the experiences I have had within the faculty. Through teaching and research, I have contributed to the body of knowledge that the faculty has shared with the world.
More recently, my collaboration with Indigenous communities has become especially important to me. Working with people who have lived on these lands for thousands of years allows us to honor their knowledge and learn from it. Their insights can help us improve how we interact with and care for these landscapes.
While I have contributed through science and teaching, my community-based work has become the most meaningful part of my career.
The main message is that there is a great deal of hope in the world, and forests are places of hope. Forests are highly regenerative systems. Even after disturbance, they are filled with seeds, roots, stumps, animals, and life that allow them to recover.
Because of this regenerative capacity, forests are one of the most important natural solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss. They provide habitat for about 80% of terrestrial species in Canada, store around 80% of the country’s carbon, and supply roughly 80% of Canada’s freshwater.
Many Indigenous communities in Canada also live in forested regions, making forests essential culturally as well as ecologically.
My hope is that people understand that forests can recover if we take the time to care for them. If we invest our effort, respect, and commitment into working with these ecosystems, we can help restore what has been lost and create a healthier future for generations to come.
When: Friday, April 17, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Where: UBC Farm, in the Events Field (the large open space by the entrance gates)
The Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship JEDI team is delighted to host the KAIROS Blanket Exercise, facilitated by Moontide Reconciliation, an official KAIROS team.
This event is offered as part of the IDEAL and the Cascades of Change: Inclusive Leadership and Respectful Engagement programs. However, this session is open to all members of the UBC community.
The Blanket Exercise is an experiential learning opportunity to immerse yourself in 400 years of Canadian colonial history told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples. Participants have shared that they found the experience deeply moving, essential to understanding Canadian history and highly recommended.
Wear: Appropriate clothing and footwear for an open field, if sunny bring a hat and sunscreen. Shade is limited.
Come early for beverages and snacks!
Learn more: https://kairosblanketexercise.org/
We are grateful to be supported by UBC Materials Engineering, Applied Science EDI.I and Land and Food Systems EDI.I
Dr. Elizabeth Wolkovich, associate professor in UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship’s Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, co-organizes the International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition – a global contest that challenges scientists, students and citizen forecasters to predict exactly when cherry trees will reach peak bloom. Now in its fifth year, the competition has just closed its entry period, with hundreds of forecasters placing their bets. We asked her why a flower is one of science’s most useful climate tools.
Hundreds of scientists, students, and citizen forecasters from around the world have placed their bets—and the collective consensus puts Vancouver’s peak bloom around March 30.
Contestants submitted predictions across five cities: Vancouver, Washington, D.C., New York City, Kyoto and Liestal-Weideli in Switzerland. All forecasts are now locked, and nature has the final say. We won’t know who’s right until the blossoms open.
Cherry trees run on a precise biological clock tied to temperature. Our current thinking is that they need a certain number of cold winter days to “reset,” followed by warming spring temperatures to trigger flowering. If correct, then warmer winters might disrupt this balance, making timing harder to call. Once blossoms open, a single storm can knock petals off in hours, so the peak bloom window is brief.
We know temperate plants flower in the spring in response to warming, but each species needs a different amount. If you think of it as a bucket that needs to be filled with warmth, then cherry trees have a smaller bucket and when it is full, they flower – later species have bigger buckets. With global warming, the whole year is warmer so the buckets all fill faster and this is most obvious for the earliest (smallest bucket) species.
The big question is how winters affect this bucket. We have good evidence that many plants, including cherry trees, have a pre-spring bucket (chilling) that they fill with cool temperatures. Enough cool temperatures tell them that winter is over. A big concern is that warmer winters means the first bucket doesn’t fill. If that’s the case it could have sweeping consequences and it’s one of the reasons we started the competition.
Cherry blossoms are one of the most visible and beloved examples of a much broader pattern. Across the Northern Hemisphere, the timing of spring—when plants leaf out, when insects emerge, when birds migrate—has been shifting forward. And it isn’t just about the flowers. Early flowering signals when other trees will leaf out, affecting forest carbon storage and ecosystem function. Cherry blossoms are a window into changes that touch every part of the natural world.
Scientists have learned a lot by comparing the different forecasting methods people submit. Some predictions come from straightforward statistics, while others use complex machine‑learning models. Looking at how each one performs across different cities helps researchers see which ideas about tree biology still work—and which ones need updating.
Engaging people in predicting bloom times gets more of us talking about climate change and its effects. Contest results, combined with scientific research, offer a collaborative approach to improve forecasting. Citizen scientists bring real value and curiosity to problems that matter.
The city has 40,000 cherry trees across more than 40 species, some flowering weeks apart, stretching the season. That variety makes it a rich place to study bloom timing. For a city whose identity is tied to its blossoms, these changes are increasingly hard to ignore.
Winners will be announced once the trees bloom. For predictions and results, visit competition.statistics.gmu.edu.
Media contact
Charlotte Fisher
Marketing & Media Relations Strategist
UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship
charlotte.fisher@ubc.ca
Canadian scientists have developed a genomic test that traces the Asian spongy moth to its origin, helping prevent new infestations.
Invasive species cost Canada billions of dollars each year. Now, a team led by UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship (FES) researchers has developed a new genomic test that can trace the Asian spongy moth—one of the biggest threats to North America’s forests—back to its source, giving officials a better chance of stopping infestations before they spread.
SpongySeq is a DNA analysis tool designed to detect the Asian spongy moth, an invasive insect capable of defoliating entire forests within weeks. Unlike the European spongy moth, which has been established in North America for more than a century and spreads slowly because its females cannot fly, the Asian variety can travel long distances, feeds on a far wider range of trees—including conifers—and remains a high-risk invader with no strong natural controls.
“Spongy moths often hitchhike on ships by laying egg masses on hulls and cargo, and they are typically detected when vessels arrive and undergo inspection at the port,” said researcher Dr. Richard Hamelin, professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences. “Once established, they’re nearly impossible to eradicate. Preventing new invasions is the most effective way to protect our forests.”
In collaboration with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Natural Resources Canada and Université Laval, Dr. Hamelin’s team created a tool that works like a “genomic passport,” analyzing 283 specific DNA markers at once—taken from an egg, wing or antenna—to identify a moth’s geographic origin with 97-per-cent accuracy.
Lead author Dr. Sandrine Picq put the tool into use in the real world, testing egg masses intercepted by U.S. port officials and tracing their origins to Japan, eastern Russia, northern China and South Korea.
“These insights will help regulatory agencies understand invasion pathways and focus inspection efforts where they are most needed,” said Dr. Picq, a researcher at Natural Resources Canada.
“Invasive species cost billions of dollars annually in lost ecosystem services, reduced resource sector productivity and management efforts. Preventing an outbreak avoids huge costs in phytosanitary work, loss of trade and market access, tree removal and replacement,” said Brittany Day of the Plant Research & Strategies team at the Canadian Food inspection Agency, where scientists plan to integrate this new tool into their spongy moth diagnostic testing program.
The device itself currently requires specialized sequencing equipment found in laboratories. Researchers eventually aim to adapt SpongySeq for field use so inspectors can identify moth origins in real time at ports and border checkpoints. The same genomic approach could be adapted to track other invasive species.
The research, part of the BioSurveillance of Alien Forest Enemies (BioSAFE) project, was published in BMC Genomics and supported by grants from Genome Canada, Genome BC, Genome Quebec and Genomics Research and Development Initiative (GRDI).
Article originally posted on UBC News.
Media contact
Charlotte Fisher
Marketing & Media Relations Strategist
UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship
charlotte.fisher@ubc.ca
Research Assistant – University of British Columbia
I have been working on experimental research related to super-black wood, contributing to the investigation of its material properties and conducting CF plasma treatment experiments on wood surfaces. During this work term, I gained hands-on experience with laboratory research, including material preparation, experimental testing, and data analysis, which strengthened my understanding of the research process in an academic setting.
This co-op experience allowed me to apply theoretical knowledge to practical research problems and clarified my interest in pursuing a research-oriented career.
Student Viticulturist – Arterra Wines Canada
For my second continuous term of co-op, I have continued working as a student viticulturist for Arterra Wines Canada. While my first term was focused on field work in the vineyards, my second term has consisted of more logistical support as harvest approached and is continuing. One of my primary tasks before and continuously throughout harvest has been maturity sampling. I go to various blocks of grape varieties, sample around thirty bunches, press the grapes into juice, and then test the juice to find their percent sugar content (also known as brix). By identifying the brix values of the grapes, the winemakers can then determine the ideal time to harvest the grapes.
Alongside maturity sampling, I have been working in what is known here as the “harvest shack” to help coordinate company truck drivers who are going out to pick up grapes and then bring them in. The harvest operation is all hands on deck at the company, as we are harvesting around 5,500 metric tonnes of grapes to process into wine. This co-op term has allowed me to improve my communication skills, my ability to organize and manage complex spreadsheets, and learn about all of the effort that goes into a successful large-scale agricultural operation.
Co-op Student – Natural Resources Canada
This work term, I have been working with the Canadian National Forestry Inventory. I am a part of the MAGPlot team, which aims to compile and standardize forestry data from across the country. Their database includes thousands of ground plots and millions of recorded trees.
I have learned a lot about programs such as Excel, R Studio, and GitHub, and also a lot about sampling design. I would not have been able to get this opportunity without the co-op program. I am so glad to be gaining relevant experience in my field and making important connections.