The 5th International Electronic Conference on Forests
Forests at the Crossroads: Integrating Ecology, Technological Innovation, and Governance
Abstract Submission is Closed.
Thank you for submitting your abstract to the IECF2026.
The abstract acceptance notification will be sent by 22 July 2026.
Accepted abstracts are eligible for publication in a Special Issue of Forests (ISSN: 1999-4907; IF: 3.1), with a 20% discount on the publication fee.
Click HERE for more details.
Registration remains open. Register with Early-Bird rate HERE.
For any inquiries, please contact us at iecf2026@mdpi.com.the chairs
We are pleased to extend a warm and heartfelt welcome to each of you on behalf of the organizing committee of the 5th International Electronic Conference on Forests—Forests at the Crossroads: Integrating Ecology, Technological Innovation, and Governance, which will be hosted online and promoted by the open access MDPI journal Forests (ISSN: 1999-4907; IF: 3.1).
The aim of this gathering is to bring together academics, practitioners, and innovators whose works shape the future of forest science. Participants come from a wide range of institutions and professional backgrounds across the globe, each contributing valuable experiences, perspectives, and insights that reflect the complexity and diversity of our planet’s forests.
Throughout the conference, we aim to cover—among others—the following topics:
S1. Forest Ecology and Sustainable Management;
S2. Forest Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, and Earth Observations;
S3. Wood Science, Production Chains, Fuelwood and Trade;
S4. Forest Inventory, Modeling and Remote Sensing;
S5. Wildfires and Other Forest Disturbances;
S6. Forest Ecophysiology, Genetics and Molecular Biology.
Once again, welcome to IECF 2026. We look forward to a stimulating and rewarding experience.
Download the conference flyer and share it with your colleagues!
Kind regards,
Dr. Mark Vanderwel, University of Regina, Canada
Dr. Nikolay S. Strigul, Washington State University Vancouver, USA
Chairs of the 5th International Electronic Conference on Forests
Flyers
- 25CONF-IECF 2026-flyer A5-web-1.pdf
Meet the Event Chairs
Important Dates
- Abstract submission deadlineJun 22, 2026
- Abstract acceptance notificationJul 22, 2026
- Registration end dateSep 09, 2026
- Early bird registration deadlineAug 10, 2026
- Regular registration deadlineSep 09, 2026
- Covering author registration deadlineAug 20, 2026
Meet Our Speakers
Prof. Dr. Maurizio Mencuccini
Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications, Barcelona, Spain, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK;
Maurizio Mencuccini is a plant and ecosystem ecologist studying how woody plants regulate structure and physiology to withstand extreme events such as droughts and heat waves. His research spans Mediterranean ecosystems and the Neotropics, advancing understanding of how plants control water use across space and time, and how acclimation and phenotypic plasticity shape stress responses. He has also highlighted the roles of tree size and ageing in forest physiology. In climate-change research, he examined how nitrogen and sulphur deposition influences the carbon cycle in boreal and temperate forests. He has worked closely with the UK forestry sector on regional modelling of forest growth and carbon sequestration, combining process-based models with Bayesian data assimilation and LiDAR remote sensing. After a joint PhD at the Universities of Edinburgh and Florence and a postdoc at Cornell (USA), he spent many years at Edinburgh. He is now an ICREA Research Professor at CREAF (Barcelona) and remains Honorary Professor of Forest Science at Edinburgh. He has co-supervised 31 PhD students and 20 postdocs, published 300+ papers, and is a Highly Cited Researcher.
Prof. Dr. Giovanna Battipaglia
Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical, Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Caserta, Italy;
Dr. Giovanna Battipaglia is a forest ecologist, with research specialization in ecophysiology, and dendroecology. She is currently Full Professor in Forest Ecology at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli. In 2005 she got her PhD in « Implementation and application of isotopic methodologies in environmental science research ». She has been working in several International institutes during her carrier, such as Center of Bio-Archeology and Ecology (CBAE- F), the Swiss Federal Research Institute (WSL - CH), The University of Amsterdam (UVA, NL), the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI, G) and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI, CH). She has long expertise in ecosystem carbon dynamics and in using stable isotopes (with conventional and laser technologies) as a tracer for physical and biological processes. Her activity has been mainly devoted to understanding the responses of terrestrial ecosystems i.e., forest, grassland and cropland, to climatic conditions and management regimes.
Dr. Alessio Collalti
Forest Modelling Laboratory, Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR–ISAFOM), Perugia, Italy;
Alessio Collalti is a Senior Researcher at the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and Head of the Forest Modelling Lab. His research focuses on the development and application of process-based models to investigate forest ecosystem functioning under changing environmental conditions. He works on integrating field observations, including eddy covariance data, with modelling approaches to improve the representation of forest dynamics, carbon cycling, and responses to climate change and management. Alessio has contributed to several international research projects and scientific assessments, with the aim of advancing predictive tools to support climate change mitigation and adaptation in forest ecosystems.
- S1. Forest Ecology and Sustainable Management
- S2. Forest Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, and Earth Observations
- S3. Wood Science, Production Chains, Fuelwood and Trade
- S4. Forest Inventory, Modeling and Remote Sensing
- S5. Wildfires and Other Forest Disturbances
Sponsors and Partners
Media partner
Ms. Ann Li
Ms. Riley Liu
Ms. Vivien Zhang
Email: iecf2026@mdpi.com
For inquiries regarding submissions and sponsorship opportunities, please feel free to contact us.