Research
In the 2016/2017 fiscal year, members of the Faculty Forestry were awarded a total of $12.1 million in research funding and authored 260 articles in 161 peer-reviewed journals. Read more about our research in our Annual Report.
Our wide breadth of research includes topics such as tree rings, integrated remote sensing, bioenergy, forest conservation genetics, landscape visualizations, African forest conservation & development, alpine studies, advanced wood processing.
Learn about all our research topics in our groups & projects section, or browse our Faculty by research interests.
Recent Research Highlights
UBC Researchers Develop Biodegradable Medical Mask for COVID-19
Made entirely from BC wood fibres, this could be the world’s first fully-compostable and biodegradable medical mask to help coronavirus aid.
Assessing Ecological and Social Impacts of Urban Forests
Managing urban landscapes is one of the greatest challenges we face this century. Globally, 60% of the area expected to be urban by 2030 has yet to be built. The effects of this urbanization will undoubtedly reach far beyond the physical boundaries of cities. Accompanied by increased competition for land, unequal distribution of wealth, and often unplanned expansion of urban infrastructure and services, urbanization is also exposing more people to cumulative natural and human-made disturbances, such as floods, wildfires, and heat waves. The state of urban ecosystems and the wellbeing of urban dwellers will greatly depend on the way cities anticipate and prepare for rapid change in the next decade. Urban forests have an important role to play, and considerable scientific effort has focused on their potential to maintain, and improve, urban quality of life.
UBC Forestry Professor Receives ‘Nobel Prize of Forest Research’
Dr Nicholas Coops is the winner of the 2020 Marcus Wallenberg Prize, the 'Nobel Prize of the forest sector' for his ground-breaking work in satellite imagery analysis and its impact on forests' response to climate change.
How Virtual Reality Can Aid Land-Based Resource Management and Operation Planning
In order to advance decision making in operational planning, it is vital that forestry professionals use the most advanced tools and technologies. The lack of an intuitive and unified visual analytics platform prevents forestry stakeholders from fully exploiting the potential of data-driven decision-making, and is a barrier to effective multi-objective forest planning across large landscapes. To address this challenge, the Faculty joined forces with LamaZoo, Interfor, and FPInnovations to develop TimberOps, an immersive visual analytics platform to improve operational planning and decision making in forest resource management.