2nd Anniversary of the ForGEDI MOOC

Knowledge Co-Creation in Practice: Reflections and Future Directions

  • Date: April 8, 2026
  • Time: 16:00 – 17:00 CEST
  • Online Webinar

Organised by: ForGEDI IUFRO Task Force, Nordic Forest Research (SNS), International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA), International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO)

Hosted by: University of Padova

Register here

Join us as we celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the ForGEDI MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), the first open-access course dedicated to advancing gender equity, diversity, and inclusion (GEDI) in forestry education.

This special event brings together coordinators, contributors, and learners of the ForGEDI MOOC to reflect on the process of knowledge co-creation, share key lessons learned, and explore future directions for GEDI in forestry education and research.

  • Guest Speaker: Dr Janette Bulkan
  • Flash Reflections with coordinators, contributors, and learners
  • Live Q&A with the audience

Forestry and forest-related sectors stand at a critical crossroad. As global environmental and social challenges intensify, forestry must move beyond technical solutions to embrace more inclusive and equitable approaches. Despite this need, GEDI remains underrepresented in many forestry curricula.

Since its launch, the ForGEDI MOOC has reached over 2,300 learners worldwide, demonstrating strong demand for GEDI in forestry education. Our anniversary webinar brings together a part of the team behind the ForGEDI MOOC to reflect on the upsides and downsides of the co-creation process. This event is ideal for ForGEDI IUFRO TF members as well as forestry educators, researchers, students, practitioners, and anyone interested in creating more inclusive and equitable approaches to natural resource management. Participants will learn more about the MOOC development and impacts, and hear experiences of collaborating with a global team of experts in knowledge co-creation.

Join us to expand your professional network!

ForGEDI IUFRO Task Force is proud to welcome an inspiring panel of experts

Janette_Bulkan_UBC_February2026

Keynote Speaker: Dr Janette Bulkan Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia
'Reflections on the role of knowledge in promoting gender equity'

Janette is an Associate Professor in the Department of Forest Resources Management in the Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia. She is a member of the Governing Council of the Commonwealth Forestry Association, and the Advisory Board of the GREEN Institute, University of Guyana. Janette is the Coordinator of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) Working Party 9.03.07 on Indigenous Peoples and Forest Landscapes, and a member of IUFRO Task Force T48 on Gender, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Forest-related sectors.

ForGEDI MOOC Flash Reflections

  • Coordinators
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Dr Ida Wallin Researcher, Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Week 2 coordinator

Ida Wallin is a researcher in forest policy at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). Her work focuses on forest and environmental governance, with particular emphasis on participatory processes, knowledge co-production, and the role of communication in shaping forest-related debates. Her research explores how diverse stakeholder perspectives, social practices, and policy frameworks interact in forest-related decision-making.

  • Contributors
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Dr Susanne Koch Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, STS Technical University of Munich, Week 1 contributor

Dr. habil. Susanne Koch is Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Science, Technology and Society (STS) of Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany and Research Fellow of the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She has obtained her PhD and habilitation in Sociology and conducts interdisciplinary research on science-policy-society relations in sustainability transformations, with a particular focus on inequalities and knowledge diversity in environmental science and governance. Over the past years, she has led an international project on inequality and its epistemic effects in forest science and contributed to the IUFRO Gender Task Force sharing her research on gender and geographic inequalities within the forest science workforce.

Rocío Melina García

Dr Rocío Melina García

Dr Rocío Melina Garcia is a postdoctoral researcher in Forest Governance from Argentina. She is currently based as a researcher at the University of Göttingen, and is also a tutor at the National University of La Plata. In IUFRO, she coordinates the WP on Integrated Mountain Forest Governance and is the Deputy Coordinator of Stream 1 in the Task Force on Gender Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Forest-Related Sectors (ForGEDI).

Kelly Cooper

Ms Kelly Cooper the Founder and President of the Centre for Social Intelligence (CSI) Week 3 contributor

Ms Cooper helps leaders create a competitive advantage with social intelligence. She spearheads the Free to Grow in Forestry Initiative – a sector wide systems approach to addressing workplace culture issues. Kelly is the recipient of the Women of InspirationTM – Vision Builder Award for 2025 for her leadership in improving workplace culture at a systems-level. She is the author of “Lead the Change – The Competitive Advantage of Gender Diversity and Inclusion” (2020). Her next book “The EmBOLDened Warrior – Spearheading Social Intelligence in the Workplace” is coming out April 9, 2026.

  • Learners
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Philip Chambers Doctoral Researcher at the University of Eastern Finland Academy of Finland UNITE Flagship – Forest-Human-Machine Interplay

Philip Chambers is a doctoral researcher at the University of Eastern Finland and a member of the Gamification Group at Tampere University. His research explores how gamification, immersive technologies, and participatory tools can support decision-making in forestry planning and policy. His work focuses on enhancing stakeholder engagement and integrating diverse perspectives into forest management.

  • Moderator
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Dr Todora Rogeljar Researcher at the University of Padova (TESAF), Week 3 coordinator

Todora has extensive experience in European projects, focusing on stakeholder mapping and policy analysis, and contributes to education through teaching and curriculum development in forestry and environmental sectors. She serves as a reviewer for several scientific journals and acted as an editor of Tropical Forest Issue 63 “Women as Stewards of Forests”. She was one of three coordinators of the ForGEDI MOOC and currently serves as the coordinator of the ForGEDI IUFRO Task Force.

Join the webinar on April 8th, 2026

(16.00-17.00h CEST)

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