2024: Partnering for impact

In 2024, the Institute continued to expand our research impact and support innovation across the forestry and sustainability sectors. We were proud to demonstrate national and international leadership in forestry research, and to foster meaningful collaboration with new and established partners.

A major achievement in 2024 was the establishment of the Australian Forest and Wood Innovations (AFWI) Centre for Sustainable Futures. The Centre will be a cornerstone of FRI’s work from 2025 onwards, enabling collaborative research across a national network of academic and government partners focused on decarbonisation, productivity, and innovation in forestry – including the development of new timber products for a carbon-friendly building sector. These collaborations bring together diverse expertise and regional capability to co-design and deliver industry-led research programs, and provide a powerful mechanism for aligning national forest research with industry needs and sustainability priorities.

Highlights

• The Institute was selected to lead one of three AFWI Research Centres, including funding of more than $24.5 million over four years from the Australia Government’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
• The Forest Pest Management Research Consortium program was extended for a third iteration. First established in 2018, the program brings together major growers across Australia and leading pest control agent providers in forestry to ensure sustainable forest production.
• The Institute was awarded a $1.7 million Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant to establish a cutting-edge Rainforest Laser Network, which will utilise laser scanning technology to monitor rainforest recovery, contributing significantly to global conservation efforts.
• Institute Director Professor Mark Brown attended the 11th Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) Bioenergy Week in Rome on behalf of the International Energy Agency’s Bioenergy Task 43, where he chaired a roundtable panel session focused on financing the sustainable energy transition.
• In August, we hosted a visit from the Deputy Premier of Sarawak, Honourable Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, and his delegation for the signing of a Letter of Intent to collaborate.
• A large cohort of Institute members attended and presented at the 26th International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) World Congress in Stockholm.

Celebrating our staff 

• Professor Tripti Singh was selected as one of 23 Women Ambassadors Creating the Future of Wood Science in 2024 by the Society of Wood Science and Technology.
• Dr Andy Howe received a coveted 2024 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for his work helping Queensland children find new insect species in their school grounds to add to a global database.
• PhD student Duc Bui was awarded a Crawford Fund Scholarship for a project that contributed to the development of sustainable agroforestry systems in Timor-Leste, focusing on the assessment of sandalwood growth and management.
• PhD student Tomiwa Oluwajuwon placed third overall in the UniSC 3 Minute Thesis competition.

Making a difference: Our research in action

Enabling a national timber circular economy: Launch of the Timber Circularity Resource Map

As a renewable, low-carbon resource, timber should play a vital role in Australia’s transition towards a circular economy and a net positive future. However, the preservatives and adhesives used to improve the performance of treated timber and engineered wood products also present major barriers to reusing, repurposing, or recycling this timber, which often ends up incinerated or in landfill. As a result, end-of-life (EOL) timber products are currently underutilised, contributing to environmental impact and lost economic value. 

The Timber Circularity Project (TCP) is a national three-year initiative aimed at tackling the challenge of a timber circular economy. Led by Dr Penelope Mitchell, the project is a collaboration between the Institute’s National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life and Forest and Wood Products Australia, along with a consortium of manufacturers, chemical and adhesive suppliers, and timber users from across Australia. A key outcome of the project is the Timber Circularity Resource Map, an interactive geospatial tool that identifies the location, type, and quantity of EOL timber across Australia. 

It supports decision-making by industry, government, and local councils, helping to identify opportunities for reuse, recycling, and circular solutions. The map also highlights zero-waste councils, landfills, and potential resource hubs.

Since its launch, the map has received strong interest from federal and state agencies, local governments, industry associations and international researchers. Key uses identified by stakeholders include resource tracking, local planning, reducing disposal costs, knowledge exchange, and identifying EOL solutions for current waste, and as a database for tracking carbon flows in wood products. 

As adoption increases, the project is expected to drive systemic change in how timber resources are managed, reducing waste, cutting emissions and maximising economic value across the supply chain.

Professor Andy Marshall: Restoring Forests and Biodiversity for People and Planet

Tropical forests are vital for biodiversity, climate stability and human wellbeing – but they are under global threat, with consequences for species extinction, agriculture, national economies and the global carbon sink. Despite this, information that allows landscape and conservation managers to plan, prioritise and monitor effective interventions remains limited. 

Professor Andy Marshall’s work aims to address this gap through research on how human and environmental factors affect ecosystem health, with a focus on conservation, restoration, and community impact.

Key projects have included:

• Forest conservation and restoration in Tanzania

Research by Professor Marshall and his team has significantly advanced sustainable land management and ecosystem restoration in Tanzania, strengthening conservation and promoting community-led approaches. Through the registered charity Reforest Africa, this has included the establishment of the 2,500-hectare Magombera Nature Reserve, co-development of a restoration strategy for the 53,000km² Udzungwa–Kilombero landscape, and the planting of more than half a million trees.

• Inspiring partnerships and solutions for managing forest vine infestations

The Forest Restoration and Climate Experiment (FoRCE) project is testing how forests respond to and recover from major disturbance, using vegetation plots across four countries and a global dataset. The project has revealed the long-term impacts of cyclones on vine-dominated tropical forests, shown the positive impacts of vine-cutting on tree growth, and identified global relationships between disturbance, climate and vine-competition with trees.

• Improving measurement and management of nature conservation

Global conservation targets are often missed due to a lack of evidence-based approaches, particularly those which incorporate the human and governance factors critical to effectiveness. To address this, Professor Marshall’s team has developed several novel methods for selecting indicators that capture both conservation success and human wellbeing in nearby communities – methods that for the first time combine scientific theory with local perceptions, involving scientists, practitioners and the conservation community.

• Improved understanding of tropical species

Professor Marshall’s research has contributed to improving estimates of species distributions, community composition and the estimated numbers of species across tropical regions. He has discovered and described several species new to science – including the zonozono tree – and has contributed to key IUCN Red List assessments.

Resources

Download the report (PDF)