Professor Anna Lawrence

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Professor, Human Dimensions of Forestry

  • Researcher, teacher and programme leader in social forestry and action research, over 30 years, in more than 25 countries.
  • Established the Human Ecology research programme at the Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University (2001-2008)
  • Head of Social and Economic Research at Forest Research (the Forestry Commission’s research institute) (2008-2015)
  • Independent consultant, visiting professor, and director of Random Forest Research since 2015

Qualifications

  • PhD in International Development, University of Reading, UK
  • MSc in Forestry, University of Oxford, UK
  • BA Natural Sciences (Botany) (First Class), University of Cambridge, UK

Contact

Anna outside in nature

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Research Activities

  • Anna’s career has combined participatory research, community development, and policy, with a focus on forests and biodiversity. Starting in 1990 in Bolivia, she spent about 15 years developing and managing a wide range of participatory research projects across three continents, including participatory soil conservation, medicinal plant cultivation, and on-farm tree cultivation.
  • Working at the University of Oxford's Environmental Institute from 2001, she established and led the Institute’s Human Ecology Programme with a team of up to eight researchers. The focus broadened to include participatory protected area management in post-social Europe and citizen science in the UK and further afield. In this role, Anna supervised MSc and DPhil students, and delivered post-graduate teaching modules on environmental governance, participatory resource management, and social research methods.
  • At Forest Research, she led a team of fifteen social researchers, economists and statisticians, to provide research and evidence to support the implementation of Scottish, English and Welsh forest policy, particularly by understanding the relevant stakeholders and processes to ensure a sustainable relationship between society and woodlands.
  • Previously, she was Visiting Professor at the Forestry and Environmental Policy Group, University of Wageningen; Senior Research Associate at the University of Reading (conducting research in Bolivia, Brazil, India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Ghana and Laos); Research Associate at the Overseas Development Institute in London (conducting research in Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador and Bolivia); Scientific Officer at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (conducting research in Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica); and Associate Professional Officer in a UK-funded agroforestry support project in Bolivia.
  • In 2003 she organised and convened an international internet conference on Participatory biodiversity monitoring and evaluation followed by a policy seminar hosted at DFID offices, London and an edited book of case studies published by Cambridge University Press.
  • She has taught social forestry, social aspects of mountain forestry, participatory methods in forestry, participatory research and citizen science, environmental governance, and comparative social research methods, in Masters and undergraduate courses at four universities.
  • Current activities include research and consultancy on community and urban forestry, community land ownership, and the culture and organisation of professional forestry.
  • Voluntary activities include a range of community forestry work in Scotland. She is Chair of the Community Woodlands Association; current Convenor of the independent think tank Forest Policy Group; steering group member responsible for seed collection and coordination, Carrifran Wildwood; steering group member, Eshiels Community Wood; and a biodiversity recorder for plants and birds.
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Current and recent activities

  • External examiner/opponent for PhD defences in five countries
  • UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe): Coordinating Lead Author for Study on Forest Ownership in the UNECE region. June 2017-Jan 2019
  • Lead researcher, evaluation of ‘Making Local Woods Work’, a UK wide programme of support to growing woodland-based social enterprise.
  • Collaboration with SRUC on ‘Review of the effectiveness of current community ownership mechanisms and of options for supporting the expansion of community ownership in Scotland’ commissioned by the Scottish Land Commission. 2018.
  • Guest Professor, University of Padua, Italy, Dec 2017-Jan 2018: designed and taught module on ‘Social Forestry’ available to post-graduate students in forestry and related subjects
  • Guest Professor, BOKU (University of Land Sciences) Vienna: module on ‘Participation revisited: citizen science, community research and change’ delivered to students from across bachelor, masters and PhD, and range of departments April 2017
  • UNECE: Lead author “Social Aspects of Green Economy –Study Paper on Forest Sector Workforce” 2017. 
  • “Value from supporting local forestry businesses – a scoping study” lead author of consultancy report by Forest Policy Group to Forestry Commission Scotland, 2017-18
  • Vice Chair, COST Action FP1201 Forest Land Ownership Changes in Europe: Significance for Management and Policy (FACESMAP). Co-led 30 country collaboration to share knowledge and draw wider lessons on changing forest ownership across Europe. Leader of two sub-groups: comparisons of community forest ownership models in Italy, Slovakia, Sweden and UK; and a synthesis model of advisory systems for private forest owners in 11 countries. 2013-17.
  • Domain Expert for forest governance: SIMWOOD Sustainable Innovative Mobilisation of Wood. EU FP7 Project No. 613762. Follow-up consultancy: ‘Evidence review on factors affecting mobilisation of wood’
  • Chartered Forester – professional member, Institute of Chartered Foresters; Board Member, Educational & Scientific Trust
Social studies of rural communities and private sector woodland creation in south Scotland – two Masters theses from the University of Copenhagen content

Social studies of rural communities and private sector woodland creation in south Scotland – two Masters theses from the University of Copenhagen

Social studies of rural communities and private sector woodland creation in south Scotland – two Masters theses from the University of Copenhagen

Two students from the University of Copenhagen were hosted by the Centre for Mountain Studies last summer. They had contacted Professor Anna Lawrence to ask for support in developing their dissertation work for their Masters degrees, in response to her research on communities’ experience of engaging with new forestry planting and potential for more community benefits, particularly in the southern uplands of Scotland. Both students chose situations where private landowners had planted, or proposed to plant, new woodland (of which the majority was conifer plantation), and to bring specific theoretical frameworks and research methods to bear on those experiences. We helped them to meet stakeholders, and then stepped aside to allow them to bring their own interpretation to what they found.

They’ve prepared summaries of their theses, which are available here. Brief highlights are below.

  • Differences in stakeholder perceptions on woodland creation in south Scotland: A case study on sources of tension and possibilities for progress

    Sophie Zeller, MSc Nature Management, University of Copenhagen

    In the south of Scotland increased commercial plantations are cause for concern amongst communities living in the affected landscapes. Sophie aimed to assess how a new planting application was perceived by different stakeholders. She used the ‘progress triangle’  to analyse three dimensions: ‘substance’, ‘relationship’ and ‘procedure’. The research showed demand for improved community engagement, especially by actors in low power positions, and concluded that current engagement processes do not meet these Governmental aims. For example, dealing with issues over community benefits should go beyond communicating existing benefits, and explore the increase of community benefits in collaboration with locals. Sophie highlighted the perception of all stakeholder groups that local issues are embedded in national scale developments, and the responsibility of the Scottish Government, and the regulatory body, Scottish Forestry, to foster and support just processes for decision making. This includes more integrated landscape level planning, and increased clarity and transparency over local, and regional land use change, as well as more collaborative approaches both by landowners, and governmental entities.

  • Exploration of Community Members' Plural Values: A Case Study of Woodland Creation in Waterside Hill

    Laura Tilli, MSc Environment and Development, University of Copenhagen

    The study investigates community members' values and meanings and their complex interplay in the case of a woodland creation project in Galloway. It contextualized the case within green-on-green debates where environmental interests and arguments on opposite sides conflict. The meanings and values are explored through a theoretical framework of plural values, including direct and indirect instrumental, intrinsic, and relational values. The study showed that 1. the woodland creation project emphasises indirect instrumental values through the financial benefits gained from it through grants paid for the landowner and future timber production, as well as climate targets aimed at climate mitigation through efficient planting of Sitka spruce. 2. Intrinsic values can be seen as visible in the project through environmental impact assessment; however, in terms of the instrumental-intrinsic dichotomy, the woodland creation clearly emphasises instrumental values. Although contradictions are evident, for the majority of community members, the recreational and agricultural use of land was strongly connected to their intrinsic and relational valuation of nature. 3.  Most prominently - how relational values lack recognition, understanding, and integration in the woodland creation project. The variety of relational values and meanings expressed, from attachment to the nature and view of the Hill to cultural significance of an oral story and a related ancient piece on the Hill, to personal memories and historical meanings, were according to community experience left under the radar in the woodland creation project. The relational values and meanings are further emphasised through their place-based nature explored through SOP. These findings underscore the necessity of plural valuation values in woodland creation, including relational values.
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Current Responsibilities and Memberships

In 2007 Anna was awarded the James Martin Fellowship in Forest Governance, Oxford University.  She gave the 2006 Distinguished Ethnobotanist lecture, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on 24 October 2006.