The University Institute for Research in Sustainable Forest Management (iuFOR) belonging to the University of Valladolid (Palencia, Spain), continues its robust international research and instruction work. The research group led by Ph.D. Felipe Bravo, Professor of Forest Planning at the E.T.S. de Ingenierías Agrarias on Palencia Campus, has carried out research projects in tropical forests in Vietnam for the last five years, in cooperation with Vietnamese Universities. These projects have a high impact, both locally and globally. After the shutdown imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, all the actions planned for these research projects are being resumed.
VirtualForest is an Erasmus+ project that seeks to develop tools and actions favouring the virtualisation of forestry education. This project is led by the iuFOR team, and counts as partners with universities and technology centres in Germany, Spain, France, and Vietnam.
Photo: Irene González/iuFOR.
In addition, two Vietnamese researchers are developing their Ph.D. theses at iuFOR, and one of them is currently at the Institute’s headquarters in Palencia. Their works are based on tropical forest conservation and measurements of carbon fixed in these ecosystems. These projects are part of the iuFOR research line on sustainable management of natural resources and climate change mitigation and various Vietnamese institutions collaborate, providing data and expertise in tropical forest management.
Finally, within the framework of the CARE4C project, between March and June 2023, the iuFOR will receive two visiting researchers working on artificial intelligence from the National University of Vietnam-University of Sciences (Hanoi). These researchers will be in Palencia for three months and will work together with the iuFOR research team to develop new projects focused on monitoring forests using artificial intelligence techniques that can be key to progress in the management and monitoring of forest natural resources. iuFOR, together with the joint initiative SMART Global Ecosystems between University of Valladolid and the company SNGULAR, is committed to continuing to lead innovative initiatives in this field.
Briefly, iuFOR is focused on generating relevant knowledge for environmental sustainability and its current projects have a positive global impact potential. The collaboration with researchers from the National University of Vietnam-University of Sciences (Hanoi) is a further step in the consolidation of iuFOR as an international benchmark in forestry research and sustainable management of natural resources.
