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Category: education

What if the forest could look back at you?

What if the forest could look back at you?

Published July 2, 2026 by Rahel Könen

Thoughts on forest, attention and reconnection after the project relating forests – written by Marianne Cornil

It was dusk in a Norwegian forest. The group moved slowly along a path, leading further and further in, both into the forest and into the imagination. A poem first stimulated the intellect toward a different perspective. The whispering of the trees, sounds of the underground, poetic words and dancing lights, then underground sounds shifted attention. Each step was a response to the forest; the forest responded in turn.

A masked figure appeared between the trunks, silent and still and looked at us, unfolding the stories of the forest.

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Life in DeadwoodLIFESPAN still

Life in Deadwood

Published April 29, 2026 by Gesche Schifferdecker

Blogpost by Gesche Schifferdecker and Andrea Barzagli

“Today, there is no longer discussion about the general value of deadwood. Now the discussion is only about how, when, and where to preserve it.”

I heard that line like a door closing on an old argument. And then, just as quickly, another door opened onto the real question: what does “keeping deadwood” actually look like in a forest that is also being managed for people?

That’s the thread running through The Life in Deadwood, the final documentary of the LIFE SPAN project – filmed across two pilot sites, the Cansiglio Forest (Italy) and the Sailershausen University Forest (Germany). Guided by Jörg Müller, professor of conservation biology and forest ecology at the University of Würzburg, the ~20‑minute film follows a quiet, ongoing “competition between humans and saproxylic organisms”.

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Rewilding cultural imaginations: Reflections from an art exhibition in the forest Exhibition in the forest

Rewilding cultural imaginations: Reflections from an art exhibition in the forest 

Published April 15, 2026 by Gesche Schifferdecker

How does rewilding speak to you? Why does it matter to you or your community? How can rewilding transform both landscapes and mindsets? 

These were the questions we asked ourselves as we started our collaborative “Rewilding through Art” initiative between the WILDCARD and the REWRITE projects. These were also the questions we put forward, to invite anyone with a story, image, or idea about rewilding to share their vision with us. Our goal? An immersive exhibition in the forest with the vision to bridge art, science, and culture. And a virtual gallery with Meander, a new magazine for bioregional culture, slow living, and regenerative futures, who became a collaborating partner along the way. 

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SimInForest Project – building an innovative approach to link marteloscope exercises to simulation models

SimInForest Project – building an innovative approach to link marteloscope exercises to simulation models

Published February 18, 2026 by amschuck
SimInForest Project – building an innovative approach to link marteloscope exercises to simulation models
The marteloscope Sailershausen 2.

Written by Andreas Schuck, Senior Researcher at the European Forest Institute

For forest managers, it is quite challenging to integrate multiple forest management objectives and increase forest resilience considering our uncertain climatic and socioeconomic future. Marteloscopes, field plots in which every tree has been mapped and measured, are a great tool for silviculture training addressing these management challenges. With the help of a software that runs on mobile devices (“I+” software package) we can perform virtual silviculture interventions directly in Marteloscopes and retrieve the results immediately. This way, training participants can observe the impact of their interventions on various ecosystem services and discuss their results and applied silvicultural practices. This training approach has become very popular in the past ten years and a large network of marteloscope sites has emerged across Europe and beyond.

However, so far quantitative analyses of marteloscope exercise results are limited to comparisons of the forest stand before and immediately after a single silvicultural intervention. Currently, potential stand evolution after a virtual thinning and potential management prescriptions are mainly discussed based on the expertise of marteloscope trainers and the participants but lack quantitative support. Here, SimInForest “Combining field exercises and simulations on marteloscopes to develop integrative and sustainable silviculture approaches” comes into play.

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What does EFI do? A Visiting Student’s Perspective from Taiwan 

What does EFI do? A Visiting Student’s Perspective from Taiwan 

Published February 4, 2026 by Gabriela Rueda

Blogpost by Li Xin Yue

Quite often, there is a gap between forest policies developed on the national level, and the actual challenges practitioners face on the ground. This is an issue that we are also facing in Taiwan. To learn more about how other countries are dealing with the persistent disconnect between national forest policy and local realities, the Taiwanese Ministry of Education decided to fund me with an internship that allows me to travel across Europe and Asia to learn about different forest governance models.  And here I was, a master’s student at National Taiwan University, coming to Germany and visiting European Forest Institute.  

From EFI I wanted to learn how long-term scientific research can be effectively connected with policy processes and on-the-ground practice. And my exchange with the EFI researchers offered insights not only for my reporting, but also beyond the European context. 

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relating forests: Listening to the stories of European woodlands

relating forests: Listening to the stories of European woodlands

Published December 15, 2025 by Rahel Könen

By Marianne Cornil

What stories do forests tell us when we truly listen? What imaginaries emerge from the rustling of branches, from leaf-covered forest floors, from moss at the foot of ancient trees? The European project „relating forests,” co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, brought together four artists through a consortium of three organizations: TheatreFragile (Germany), NOBA – Norwegian Bio Arts Arena (Norway), and Cultures Éco-Actives (France). Together, storyteller Anne Dromzee, choreographer Rebekka Sartre and mask theater makers Luzie Ackers and Marianne Cornil explored these questions through an interdisciplinary artistic approach rooted in local ecosystems and cultural mythologies.

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Researching the unacknowledged: A young Belgian researcher’s journey to understand the hidden world of forest soils

Researching the unacknowledged: A young Belgian researcher’s journey to understand the hidden world of forest soils

Published November 26, 2025 by Rina Tsubaki

By Rina Tsubaki.

Soil might not be the first thing you notice when walking through a nearby forest. But it’s a quiet, hidden guardian that our forests depend on. It connects trees, insects, and fungi in ways we often overlook. Many soil organisms feed on dead plant residues, making important nutrients available to plants. Additionally, while feeding and digging, they incorporate organic carbon into the soil, improving soil structure and water holding capacity. Healthy, biodiverse soil is therefore essential for making forests resilient and multifunctional and cannot be ignored by anyone working in sustainable forest management.

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Forschungspreis für Citizen Science 2025: 1. Platz für das Projekt PlanBirke plus CBirke und Biodiversität

Forschungspreis für Citizen Science 2025: 1. Platz für das Projekt PlanBirke plus C

Published November 10, 2025 by Gesche Schifferdecker

Bürger*innen erforschen den Waldwandel – Klimawirksamkeit, Biodiversität & Wasserhaushalt Das Forschungsinstitut für Bergbaufolgelandschaften (FIB) wurde mit dem 1. Platz des „Wissen der Vielen – Forschungspreis…

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