FORAGE co-hosts an ongoing speaker series that provides space for open and relaxed discussions on current research subjects related to human and society relations to forests. Typically, four speaking events occur per term.

The “Coffee Talks HFR” are hosted by:   Human-Forest Relationship Research Club of the Finnish Society of Forest Science ·  The research group “Mentalities in Flux” (flumen) Research Project, ·        Forest Anthropology Working Group on Europe and Beyond (FORAGE), and Netzwerk Soziologische Waldforschung (soz-wald), a German speaking network of sociological research on forest relations.Details on past and upcoming speakers can be found here  

UPCOMING SESSION: April 1st, 2026, 6am MST / 2pm CET / 3pm EET

Speaker: Austin Himes, 

Title: Relational Resilience of Forest Social-Ecological Systems

Abstract: Social-ecological system (SES) resilience-the ability of complex adaptive systems composed of humans and non-human nature to absorb or adapt to changes as well as the ability of these systems to fundamentally transform-is one of the core concepts in SES scholarship. Increasingly, relational approaches have been suggested as well suited for engaging with the complexity of SES but there has been little attempt to apply relational perspectives to the concept of resilience. In this talk, I will present a relational framework for research on SES resilience of forest-based communities. The framework is based on the idea that the diversity of human-forest relationships in a forest SES is a good indicator of general resilience and that the human-forest relationships that are possible in a given SES are constrained and shaped by co-constituting institutions and ecosystem capacities of the SES. Research and policy aimed and understanding or improving the resilience of forest SESs can use this framework by focusing efforts on understanding human-forest relationships (enabled, desired, and possible), institutions (formal and informal conventions, norms and legal rules influencing decisions, practices and attitudes related to the SES), ecosystem capacities (ecological functions of the forest derived from their composition and structure), and the dynamics between these three components. This framework has been co-developed with Agata Konczal, Stephanie Bethmann, Tilman Hertz, Sylvia Kruse, Ana Stritih, and Jürgen Bauhus. It is the result of a collaboration made possible by the Future Forest Cluster of Excellence and the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Freiburg.

Dr. Himes is an assistant Professor, in the School of Environment, Washington State University, with a specialization on Sustainable Forest Management Systems. Recent works include: 

• Himes, A., & Dues, K. (2024). Relational forestry: a call to expand the discipline’s institutional foundations. Ecosystems and People, 20(1), 2365236
• Himes, A.,  et al. (2024). Why nature matters: a systematic review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values. BioScience, 74 (1), 25-43

For attendance details, contact jodie.asselin@uleth.ca