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Celebrating international research dialogue – 2nd anniversary of Scientific Coffee Sessions “Human-Forest-Relationship”

This autumn, our Scientific Coffee Session series “Human-Forest-Relationships” (HFR) celebrated its second anniversary with its 10^th edition. The Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR contribute to increase the visibility of humanities and (qualitative) social science research relating to forests, their use and the forest industries. The umbrella under which all the diverse topics and research perspectives come together, is the interest in human-forest-relationships. The presentations and discussions dig into various aspects of that complex and contested relationship concerning forest use, protection, politics, and policies. Especially the public and political debates about forestry have been the subject of the Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR as well as questions relating to ownership, foresters, and marginalized positions. The HFR concept enables an overlapping theme and perspective that brings together interested researchers from diverse disciplines, institutions, and countries.

The second anniversary this autumn marked a milestone in the international cooperation. The Scientific Coffee Sessions HFR are hosted in a joint effort by the project Mentalities in Flux (flumen) and the Human-Forest Relationship Research Club of the Finnish Society of Forest Science. They were initiated and are still run and moderated by Jana Holz (project researcher and PhD candidate in the project flumen, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany), Tuulikki Halla (project researcher and PhD candidate, University of Eastern Finland), PhD Jaana Laine (Faculty Lecturer, Lappeenranta University of Technology) and Reetta Karhunkorva (Senior Forest Culture Specialist, Lusto Forest Museum).