Applicants to Master’s and Doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details
The Faculty of Forestry is one of the top institutions globally in forest-related education and research. The unique breadth of expertise we possess allows us to integrate new knowledge across many disciplines. Offering both master’s and doctoral programs, our graduate students learn from a dynamic and diverse group of researchers from around the world.
The Forest Sciences Centre is a showcase for construction using Canadian forest products, and was architecturally designed to mimic the landscape of British Columbia: towering trees, mountains, and blue-green waters. The 17,505-square-metre Forest Sciences complex has 11 classrooms, 2 lecture theatres, teaching laboratories, office space, computer labs, study areas, and a cafeteria, and houses the Faculty’s three departments.
Built alongside the Forest Sciences Centre is the 3,730-square-metre Centre for Advanced Wood Processing. It is Canada’s national centre of excellence for education and research related to wood products processing and advanced wood products manufacturing, and works to advance knowledge that fosters job creation, stabilizes forest-dependent communities, encourages increased value recovery, and ensures the sustainable management of Canada’s forests. This building includes two 25-seat classrooms, a machine lab, a simulator lab and a computer lab.
Within the Faculty of Forestry, there are also several research groups. Visit the website of each project to find out more.
Off-campus facilities include two Research Forests: the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest in Maple Ridge and the Alex Fraser Research Forest near Williams Lake. These are working forests located throughout the province where students and faculty can study in an outdoor setting. Fish and wildlife, silviculture, forest harvesting, forest ecology, forest management, and resources management figure prominently in these field studies.
UBC Forestry is turning out a new generation of foresters, and faculty are committed to meeting future challenges in forestry through in-depth, cutting edge research. In fact, UBC Forestry receives the highest level of forestry research funding of any forestry faculty in Canada.
In the 2017/2018 fiscal year, members of the Faculty Forestry were awarded a total of over $12 million in research funding.
Our wide breadth of research includes topics such as tree rings, integrated remote sensing, bioenergy, forest conservation genetics, landscape visualizations, African forest conservation and development, alpine studies, climate change, and advanced wood processing.
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Forestry.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Dr. Dordel investigated the influence of larger trees on underplanted T. ciliata by examining different environmental factors, and employed a computer model to explore the relationship between T. ciliata growth and soil water availability. Her research gives Argentinean locals valuable insights into successful growing of this highly valuable species and is an important step towards more diverse plantations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Lazarescu studied the tensile stresses, developed during the convective drying of western hemlock, by observing the restrained deformation of small wood strips. The results, correlated with experiments made on short pieces of timber, underlined the importance of drying parameters on the quality of dried wood products. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Lo examined whether temporal patterns in tree-ring chronologies of three species along an elevational gradient were consistent, and how ring-width variations reflected estimates of past variations in temperature and precipitation. Results from this study will be used - to simulate climate-change effects on tree growth. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Li used computer modeling, experimental studies and reliability-based approaches to study the behavior of post-and-beam timber buildings during earthquakes. An efficient framework was developed to assess the seismic performance of these structural systems, leading to performance-based seismic design methods. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Schwab developed an agent-based forest sector model for evaluating strategic responses to natural disturbances. Modeling the forest industry as a group of interacting agents makes it possible to study the effects of proposed policy changes on ecosystem recovery and the economic viability of individual companies and communities. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Song conducted experimental and numerical studies on the critical buckling load and lateral bracing requirements of metal plate connected wood truss assemblies. The test database and the output of the developed computer program bridge the knowledge gap and contribute to the improvement of design methods. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Holliday identified a suite of genetic markers that are associated with variation in the timing of dormancy and cold hardiness acquisition in Sitka spruce. This resource will be applied to tree breeding and conservation genetics related to adaptation to local climatic conditions, which will become increasingly important under climate change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2008 | Dr. Lantz studied the effects of climate warming and disturbance on Arctic ecosystems. His work shows that the combined effects of fire, thawing permafrost and warming temperatures are causing rapid changes in northern vegetation. Changes in Arctic vegetation have important consequences for global climate, wildlife habitat, and traditional foods. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2008 | Nicole's PhD focused on the role and responsibilities of forestry scientists in forest policy making and the ethical dimensions and implications of scientific constructs commonly used in international and Canadian forestry research, planning and policy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2008 | Dr. Kranabetter developed an improved measure of soil nitrogen supply and demonstrated how foliar attributes of understory trees can be used to calibrate models of productivity in partial-cut forests. Information on how well trees grow when both light and nutrients are limiting is required for assessment of alternatives to clearcutting forests. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |