We hereby warmly invite you to our next Scientific Coffee Human-Forest-Relationships session.
9 October 2024
2-4pm CEST (Germany) / 3-5pm EEST (Finland) / 6-8 am MDT (North America)
Input: Kristina Wirth (FVA Freiburg, Germany)
Title: „Creating understanding through artful connections“
To join the event, please use the Zoom Link: https://uni-jena-de.zoom.us/j/61027392103, Meeting-ID: 610 2739 2103, code: 513063
Abstract
The current debate about the future of German forests is all over the media, while conflicts between citizens and foresters are on the rise. These debates and conflicts revolve primarily around questions of the ‘right’ approach to the management of our forests. Our team conducted an empirical study on the central issues and interactive patterns of those conflicts. After that, we implemented a participatory project with involved conflict parties (foresters and citizens’ initiatives) and a graphic designer. Together we further elaborated the empirical results and turned them into artful media elements (cartoons, film, portraits: https://www.fva-bw.de/en/top-meta-navigation/departments/societal-change-unit/completed-projects/fight-over-the-forest), with the idea of encouraging engagement with the conflicts by employing humor and creativity.
In this presentation, I will briefly introduce the main findings concerning conflicts on forest management in Germany. Then I will focus on the participatory process and the resulting media elements as well as the so far observed effects of their use.
Kristina Wirth studied biology and forest research. Afterwards, she started working at the Societal Change Unit at the Forest Research Institute Baden-Württemberg, Germany (https://www.fva-bw.de/en/top-meta-navigation/departments/societal-change-unit) in 2011. There, she discovered her interest and preference for social sciences. Her (current) main research interests are conflicts on forest management and transformative processes concerning forestry in Germany.
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Scientific Coffee “Human-Forest-Relationships”
Let’s sit and talk in the scientific café! The “Scientific Coffee HFR” sessions give room for open and relaxed discussions on current research subjects related to human and society relations to forests. It warmly welcomes all interested in forest-related research to join online sessions.
Each session lasts approximately two hours. It starts with a 30-minutes presentation of a guest speaker. After the presentation, with coffee or tea and cookies at hand, participants have plenty of room for an open discussion and exchange.
The “Scientific Coffee HFR” takes place two to three times per semester on Wednesdays.
Guest speakers wanted!
If you are interested in contributing to the “Scientific Coffee HFR”, please contact either jana.holz(at)uni-jena.de or tuulikki.halla(at)uef.fi with info on your subject (title and short abstract) and a preferred date.
The idea for a scientific coffee HFR came up during a cooperation between Finnish and German researchers in 2021. The Finnish research project Human-Forest Relationships in Societal Change and the German research group Mentalities im Flux (flumen) organized the workshop “Contested Society-Nature-Relations. Forest related Emotions, Practices & Conflicts in Times of Societal Change” in May 2021. The first “Scientific Coffee HFR” session was held in September 2021.
The “Scientific Coffee HFR” is organized by: