Centre of Excellence welcomes inaugural head

Professor Jeff Morrell has got his feet under the desk as the first Director of the Forestry Centre of Excellence (FCoE), ready to lead the centre into its next chapter as an international leader in forest industries for research, education, product and market development.

Globally renowned for his distinguished career in wood durability, Professor Morrell was selected following an international search.

Professor Morrell has spent more than three decades leading the durability program at Oregon State University in the United States. He was also the director for the Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life based at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland from 2018 to 2023.

A key Malinauskas Government forestry commitment, the FCoE is a collaborative project between the State Government, the University of South Australia (UniSA) and the forest industry.

A new dedicated FCoE building is expected to be completed in January next year and is on the same site as the UniSA Mount Gambier campus, the new Mount Gambier Technical College and the Mount Gambier TAFE – providing a unique opportunity to create an education, training and research precinct.

Vital research has already been underway including projects on:

• structural timber market access

• improving safety

• fire detection from cameras and satellites

• suppression, recovery, and analysis of digital forestry data using artificial intelligence

• immersive data analytics using VR and AR to understand the implications of climate change on plantation growth yield and water use.

For more information about the Forestry Centre of Excellence visit: https://pir.sa.gov.au/fcoe