Capacity building and networking

The Policy and Governance Programme’s strategic activity includes building future research and expertise capacities to strengthen knowledge-based policy-making. There is a clear need for this as there are scarce resources and capacities of forest policy and economics research and education at pan-European level in responding emerging societal, economic and policy issues.

In this respect the overall aim of the ongoing FOPER Project is to consolidate human capacities in Forest Policy and Economics Education and Research in South-East Europe (SEE) region. FOPER is focused on building Collaborative Regional Research Teams (CRRTs) on topics of critical policy interest in Southeast Europe, continuation of the FOPER MSc program, and building a Graduate College on ‘Governance of Forests in SEE’ for doctoral students.

In terms of Research, the goal is to create Collaborative Regional Research Teams (CRRT) and provide them with the support to prepare international quality research proposals. Although FOPER will provide initial funds to projects selected during the review process for funding, a critical criterion for preparation and evaluation of the research proposals will be the likelihood of securing external funding for the project. The future of forest policy and economics research in the SEE region is a strong, vibrant, and independent researcher network.

In terms of teaching capacity and continuation of the MSc, FOPER II is investing in creating a strong cadre of qualified regional teachers for courses at all levels in forest policy and economics. Our expectation is bold: 50 to 70 percent of Master’s courses should have qualified regional faculty available to teach them by 2014. Reaching this goal requires an innovative and multifaceted training approach. In addition, there is a Graduate College designed to support both increased teaching and research capacities.

Policy and Governance networking activities are further strengthened globally through IUFRO.