Professor Julian Evans OBE FICFor has been awarded the Royal Forestry Society’s (RFS) Gold Medal for his outstanding contribution to the forestry sector.
Julian was nominated for the award by Alison Field FICFor, the current Vice President of the RFS, and was also presented with it in person earlier this month.
Alison said:
“Throughout his career, Julian has and continues to make an outstanding contribution to forestry both in the UK and overseas. He is tireless in his support of the profession and in encouraging others with his passion for forests.
He shares his knowledge without reserve, living out his Christian faith alongside a mission for all to appreciate how and in what way we may best steward our forests.
I have no hesitation in recommending Julian for receipt of the RFS Gold Medal not just for his considerable support of the RFS, but for the many, many lives that he has touched and helped throughout their forestry careers.”
Julian is a researcher, author, woodland owner and former Forestry Commissioner. He graduated from Bangor University in 1968 and went on to complete a PhD on the sustainability of plantations in Swaziland. He joined the Forestry Commission in 1971 as a District Officer in South Wales before moving into research at Alice Holt Lodge where he specialised in the silviculture of broadleaved woodland. Julian left the Forestry Commission in 1997 moving to the Imperial College London where he was a Professor for more than ten years.
His contribution to forestry extended outside the United Kingdom, having spent time at the University of Technology in Papua New Guinea in the 1970s and with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in the mid-1980s. He has written more than 100 research papers and his books on silviculture continue to be read by students and early career foresters.
From 2013-2015, Julian was President of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and has held various honorary positions including Chair of the Department for International Development’s forestry research advisory committee, Chair of the Commonwealth Forestry Association and Chair of the Forestry Commission’s Expert Committee on Forest Science.
