The Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) was formed in 2014 as a direct result of a £15 million philanthropic donation that was match-funded by the University.
BIFoR is a virtual institute of over 100 academics, primarily from the schools of Geography Earth and Environmental Sciences and Biosciences but also includes members from Mathematics, Engineering, the Business School, International Development, Psychology, English, and elsewhere.
Whilst we are perhaps best known for our world class research woodland in central England - the BIFoR FACE facility - our research stretches much wider than that. Indeed, BIFoR aims to provide fundamental science, social science and cultural research of direct relevance to forested landscapes anywhere in the world. We make the evidence-based case for forests as part of one-planet living.
We have now organised our research into four key themes:
1. Climate - The impact of climate and environmental change on woodlands
2. Health - The resilience of trees to invasive pests and diseases
3. Global - Big data approaches across space and deep time
4. Urban and interdisciplinary - Understanding the wider importance of trees and forests to human and non-human actors.