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University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Type: Program
Education Level: Graduate
Event Duration: One-time
Start Date:01 September 2008
The International Forest Resources and Institutions (IFRI) Program at the University of Michigan is offering an intensive nine-week training program on IFRI methods in the fall of 2008. The training program consists of three components: seminar sessions, fieldwork, and computer laboratory sessions. Seminar sessions introduce participants to IFRI's theoretical foundations, a larger body of work on local resource governance issues, the IFRI instruments and methods used in data collection, principles of research design, basic data analysis, and report-writing.
Both popular and scientific concern over deforestation is at a historically high level. Yet standard macro-level explanations for deforestation such as population growth, poverty, conversion of forest to agriculture, and the penetration of global markets do not consistently account for the variation found in forest condition and forest use at the micro (local) level. This nine-week course explores theoretical and methodological approaches for exploring human-environment interactions. It focuses on community level forest management, and the interaction of institutional, socioeconomic and ecological factors that influence sustainability. It provides training in data collection methods, including participatory techniques, individual and group interviews, and forest measurement. Students apply their training in field research in a forest community in Southern Michigan. The course specifically exposes students to the IFRI Program. The program is an interdisciplinary, cross-national effort to explore the factors affecting forest conditions at the local level, especially those that influence a communityÂ’s relationship to its forest. The methods used are drawn from the social, natural, and physical sciences in order to achieve a comprehensive understanding of local-level processes. Students who undergo training also gain first hand exposure to the unique IFRI database and learn how to enter data and use queries to create datasets.
Researchers are currently using the IFRI approach in dozens of forests and communities in more than twelve countries in the Americas, Africa and Asia. This course is designed for graduate students who seek to learn theories and methods relevant for social-environmental research, and particularly the approaches of an active, ongoing research program applicable to the human dimensions of environmental change. Students should be aware that this is an intensive course scheduled for the first nine weeks of the Fall semester. It requires several evenings and weekends of fieldwork during the first part of the course. Grades are based in part upon completion of a case study report, which will require additional time beyond the course's eight weeks.
As a Visiting Scholar in the University of Michigan training program, there are several practical issues you need to consider. Among them are the costs of the program. There are two types of costs associated with the IFRI training: (i) Training Fees; and (ii) Living Expenses. The total of these two costs come to approximately USD $12,500. Please contact the organizers for a breakdown of the costs.
Please notify Natalie Dushane (nadushan@umich.edu) by June 30 if you plan to attend this fallÂ’s IFRI training course. We are all looking forward to meeting our new trainees.
Contact Information:
International Forestry Resources & Institutions (IFRI) Program
University of Michigan
School of Natural Resources and Environment
440 Church St. 4573 DANA Bldg.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1041
(734) 764-9542
(734) 647-5047 fax
E-mail: arunagra@umich.edu or bhimadhi@umich.edu
This Educational item is classified within these Core Themes:
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management
Connecting the ecological, economic, and social
Local
Indicators and monitoring
Driving forces relevant to a sustainability transition
Agriculture
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