Bi-monthly Report (May-June 2023)
Internal Department
Communication Commission
Accomplished Plans for the Period
CommComms Monthly Hangout: May 2023
At the end of the month, the CommComms team gathered for their monthly hangout meeting for the month of May 2023. The team members gave updates about their projects and tasks—some of the sub-commissions have very exciting plans for July and August so stay tuned!
Publication
Revision & Collaboration with Authors
HoSC Publication collaborates with authors on writing good-quality articles and event reports. HoSC Publication reviews all the news requests and gives them feedback on improvement before publishing them on the website.
Publication Encouragement
HoSC Publication monitors ongoing events and encourages people to submit event reports such as Northern Africa Regional Meeting 2023 Event Report – IFSA, IFSOW Wageningen weekend – IFSA, and Germany meeting 2023 Report – IFSA.
Newsletter creation
The HoSC Publication’s major duty is to create newsletter. During the last bi-monthly period, the sub-commission published 2 newsletters: May 2023 | Highlight of IFSA Job Fair 2023 ✨ (mailchi.mp) and June 2023 | What is Tree House?🌳 (mailchi.mp).
Newsletter Subscribers Increase
Our subscribers have increased from 1,084 in October 2022 to 1,511 in July 2023. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! You can find the previous newsletters here.
Ongoing/Upcoming Tasks in the Sub-Commission
The HoSC Publication plans to come back with IFSS special edition newsletter for July.
Social Media
Job Fair
The Social Media accounts were a crucial tool to encourage members to attend this event. Creative and interactive posts were used to plug Job Fair 2023.
Posting of Opportunities and Events with IFSA Partners
A total of 8 posts were posted by the SM Subcommission. These opportunities range from internship opportunities to delegations, and symposiums. IUFRO is one of the very active partners that provides a wide variety of opportunities for IFSA members.
Open Calls and Delegations reports
IFSA has been relentless in engaging and promoting cultural exchange. A total of 9 delegations reports, consisting of regional meetings reports and IFSA delegation reports, were posted for the months of May and June. Several open calls were also posted to fill in the commissioner positions and some HoSC positions. There is also an ongoing open call for regional representatives for some regions.
Plans for the upcoming months
Updating of the Highlights
With the numerous delegations and activities held for the months of May and June, the HoSC Social Media will be updating the highlights in our IFSA IG Account.
Discord
Clean-up of the Discord server
The second cleaning of the server was done during these months, leaving more relevant channels for the community.
Meeting to improve promotion strategies
A meeting was held with Steve Lopez the secretary of IFSA and Desita Dyah D A Kusumaningrum the head of the communication commission. New strategies were discussed to give a new twist to the server, so expect new updates within the server in the coming months.
Discord SC Monthly Meeting, May 2023.
Plans for the next bimonthly period
We are in the process of making some collaborations to be able to attract more people to the server and a campaign of diffusion of how to interact on the server.
Before starting the IFSS, the booklet “How to Interact in Discord” will be published.
Web
Publicizing events on the website
The sub-commission assisted in publicizing IFSA and partner events on the website. Different open calls were announced for IFSA delegates. Reports of IFSA and partner events were also posted. A total of 40 posts were posted on the website during the period
Updating The website
The website was updated to reflect current statistics. The recently added LC’s details were uploaded to the website as well as new officials and commissioners. The Treehouse webpage was also updated with experiences from different users.
Managing the Zoom room
The sub-commission attended to several Zoom requests and supported other sub-commissions in hosting webinars and meetings with the official IFSA Zoom room.
Assisting at NARM
The sub-commission assisted with technical requirements at the Northern Africa Regional meeting by providing the Zoom room and live streaming of the events.
Design
Annoucement regarding the HoSC Design
The HoSC Design was officially dismissed from the role effective from the 7th of May 2023, following a warning issued by the Board as per IFSA’s internal procedures.
In light of this, an open call was announced to invite interested individuals to apply for the position of HoSC Design. The new HoSC Design, Tri Nadia Asrini, was welcomed by the Communication Commission on the 25th of May 2023.
TreeHouse
Sub-Commission Meeting
The TreeHouse Sub-Commission meeting took place on May 20th. The meeting focused on the promotion of TreeHouse besides the experience section of the webpage. The promotional posts will be divided into 3 feeds with the following contents; what is TreeHouse, how to use TreeHouse, and experience testimonials. In June 2023, the posts will be published on social media accounts. Afterward, the TreeHouse SC collaborated with Mukhtar to have a testimonial template for the experience section of the webpage of TreeHouse.
Ongoing Tasks in the TreeHouse Sub-Commission
The TreeHouse SC is currently engaged in progressing the TreeCulture Project, in collaboration with the Cultural Competencies SC.
Podcast
Accomplished Plans for the Period
The Podcast SC recorded and published the first episode of the canopy conversations which was a great success. It was well-received by listeners and received positive feedback from the IFSA community. The second episode of the podcast has also been recorded, but it has not yet been published. The episode is currently in the editing process, and it is expected to be published in the next few weeks.
The Sub-Commission has also completed the concept notes for episodes three and four of the podcast. These concept notes outline the topics that will be covered in each episode, as well as the guests who will be interviewed. You can view the concept notes here.
Finally, the Sub-commission secured a spot in the program of the upcoming IFSS. This means that the podcast will be featured as a live event during the conference. This is a great opportunity to showcase the podcast to a wider audience and to promote the work of the IFSA community.
Plans for the next bimonthly period
The Podcast SC plans to take the necessary actions to complete the various task of recording and publishing the remaining episodes of the podcast.
Capacity Development Commission
Accomplished Plans for the Period
CDC Meeting: May 2023
After a while, CDC finally met again to catch up on sub-commission updates; plans, and possibilities for structure changes for the next term. To commemorate the hard work of our officials, we awarded our Head of Cultural Competencies Sub-Commission, Wening Ila Idzatilangi, as the May 2023 CDC Official of the Month!
Carbon & Sustainability
IFSA Sustainability Strategy
After the meeting with the Sustainability Department of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, a document was built to collect all the information and then was presented in a meeting with some IFSS 2023 OC members to discuss the possibility of having an activity during the event regarding sustainability, the perception of IFSA members, how it changes -or not- through regions and to know their mind about how the IFSA Sustainability Strategy should look like. Conversations related to methodology and how to fit it in the itinerary are still ongoing.
IFSA Trips Carbon Emissions Assessment
Calculations of various Regional Meetings are in the process and participants of the latest SERM and NARM need to be reached out. Once their information is integrated with the upcoming LARM participants’ information, the carbon emissions assessment of Regional Meetings will be completed.
Cultural Competencies
What Makes Your Forest Unique? Book
On 6 June 2023, CC HoSC was conducting the second WMYFU? Summit. The meeting discussed the continuity of the project and decided to expand the writing time until December while recruiting more authors, so the story will be more diverse and can capture more perception and can make a conclusion of “New Paradigm of Forest Valuation”. For all authors that will write their empirical experiences, they need to submit article validity (the template was sent) signed by their lecturer or professor. The CC HoSC also sent an ebook to inspire the authors to writing style. To make sure, all the authors are motivated and on track of their writing, there will be a monthly summit on the 16th of the month. On 15 June 2023, CC HoSC was asking Northern Africa RR (Joshua) to disseminate the WMYFU? Project to NARM Nigeria 2023 participants. It leads to three new authors from Nigeria register.
Tree Culture
In total, 4 countries are submitting their article: Nepal, Iran, Nigeria, and Turkey. All the authors have been sent their certificates of appreciation by CC HoSC.
Cultural Day
Only one Cultural Day is being held, that is Taiwan Cultural Day on 23 May 2023. The event report was uploaded to the IFSA newsletter on 26 May 2023. The NTUFSA also have been sent their certificate of appreciation by CC HoSC.
TreE-Learning
Commissioner Open Call
The commissioner was sadly dismissed from the role due to time constraints in their day-to-day plans. An open call was launched in June.
Current Projects and Future Plans
- Projects with the Gender SC were put on hold, we will resume these as soon as possible
- The project with Prof. Wilkes-Allemann is postponed due to personal reasons; the project will resume later in July.
- Module (series) on Wood Energy and Wood Residues in light of the IUFRO Congress 2024 is being put together in collaboration with IUFRO Sub-Commission and FAO Sub-Commission. This initiative is led by Jair Granados Chacón (IUFRO Commissioner).
- The internal webinar regarding the proactive integration of modules for the treE-Learning platform is in the final stages. More information will become available in the coming weeks.
Gender
Bi-Monthly Meetings
We continued to have regular meetings to check in on current ideas, issues, and next steps. The meetings are a great contribution to the Sub-Commission itself and to building a team.
IUFRO Abstract
We handed in an abstract to the IUFRO 2024 World Congress for the session we are co-organizing, session T5.14, Gender Equality in Forestry: Past, Present, and Future. The contribution will be in the form of a flash talk and cover the topic of gender equality in forest education from a student’s point of view.
MOOC
The Sub-Commission has continued its work on the Massive Open Online Class (MOOC) on gender equality and diversity in forestry. We are contributing with a student’s perspective on the topic and will be engaged in different parts throughout the MOOC.
TreE-Learning Course
In order to focus on the MOOC contribution, we have put the TreE-Learning course development on hold for now. However, after completing our MOOC contribution, we expect to make use of synergies for the TreE-Learning course as both projects focus on making knowledge about gender issues accessible to students.
Living Story Book
The idea of a living storybook was introduced by the commissioners and we are looking forward to hearing more about it in the upcoming weeks.
Language
Language School
About the Language Sub Commission, After the successful completion of the Spanish Language School and German Language School, e-certificates were distributed to the participants who passed the course.
Although we wanted a one-one match similar to the Spanish school, we divided the German school into six groups, with 1 mentee and 4 mentees in each group.
Forestry Education and Mentorship
Collaboration with IFSA SAN
We are maintaining contact with IFSA SAN with the aim of achieving collaboration. We are seeking professionals in forestry and related fields who can provide mentorship on a range of topics we have identified. It is necessary to coordinate with the web team to create a dedicated space on our website for this collaboration.
Collaboration with TreE-Learning Sub-Commission
Additionally, we need to schedule a meeting with Aurelie, the HoSC TreE-Learning, to coordinate the creation of a webinar on facilitating spaces for reflection. This webinar will be conducted in collaboration with the Institute of Sustainable Development (IDS).
On another note, there has been consideration given to the possibility of creating a compilation of the International Forestry Students’ Symposium (IFSS) online instances, covering forest-related content.
Fundraising
Individual Fundraising Activities
In this bi-monthly period, the SC decides to reach out to each region to discuss the possible ways in which individual IFSA members can fundraise themselves to attend international IFSA events.
We reached out to IFSA alumni to learn from their experiences. Starting with Northern Africa Alex Bimbo Onatunji from Nigeria was willing to share his expertise with us. We discussed how IFSA members from Northern Africa can fundraise individually to attend international events. Unfortunately getting funding in Northern Africa is quite hard, looking at the possible means of getting these funds. For more detailed information, click this link.
Other Business
The Fundraising SC had limited time resources due to time constraints caused by the preparation of the IFSS 2023 in Germany.
Joint IFSA-IUFRO Task Force
Best Practices Competition
We are happy to announce the “Global Competition on Best Practices in Forest Education 2.0” to celebrate and reward the efforts of forestry teachers and professors from around the world. The last date for submission is 30 November. The competition is open to all scientists/professors/educators from around the world and is already circulating on all social media of IUFRO and IFSA. You can register through this link.
Forest Education Symposium side event
As part of the Forest Education Symposium in Finland, the JTF is organising an online side event on the “How to do Systematic Review in Forestry” Workshop. The concept note is already accepted and we are in search of a speaker for the workshop. You can read the concept note here.
