Setting the agenda: Rooting future woodland restoration research in practitioner needs Research lead: Alys Daniels-Creasey, PhD researcher at School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh.PhD researcher, Alys Daniels-Creasey, led on a CSFL research project to gather the knowledge needs of woodland practitioners to co-develop a shared research agenda for the future, with supervision from CSFL co-director Marc Metzger. Carrying out the research part-time from October 2024 to August 2025 as an Earth Fellow through the Edinburgh Earth Initiative (EEI), Alys gathered data through an online survey, in-depth interviews, and a collaborative workshop. Timeline of the project Throughout the project, a dedicated team of expertise from a range of organisations formed a steering group to provide ideas, input, and guidance on the emergent research design. CSFL warmly thanks the steering group members: Alastair Seaman (Woodland Trust), Shireen Chambers (Future Woodlands Scotland), Ailsa Watson (Future Woodlands Scotland), Alan McDonnell (Trees for Life), Darren Wisniewski (Trees for Life) and Charles Dundas (Borders Forest Trust).To jump directly to the full report, please follow this link: Setting the agenda: Rooting future woodland restoration research in practitioner needs Collaborative workshop with woodland practitioners and researchers to discuss and validate early findings from the survey and interviews. Photo credit: Alistair Seaman, Woodland Trust The research project started with the idea of gathering a list of research questions practitioners are keen to have addressed. It soon became evident that to gather such a list would be too long to be productive and would miss the positives of co-developing questions for mutual benefit. A more constructive approach was to gather key topic themes and establish how to improve collaborative working between practitioners and researchers to enable the co-development of specific research questions and projects going forward.Over the course of the project, multiple knowledge needs were identified at all scales, which can broadly be grouped into ecological, social and economic: Different knowledge needs for woodland restoration practitioners However, it also came to light that knowledge needs were not consistently due to a lack of evidence or academic research. There can be issues with passing the knowledge on to the relevant audiences or a lack of implementation. Identifying where different topics are perceived to be situated in this triangle of knowledge needs is a key part of how to begin addressing knowledge needs. In the collaborative workshop with practitioners and researchers, participants discussed different topics, such as nature markets and deer management. Using the E-E-E framework, the differing perspectives on whether knowledge needs in that topic area are due to a lack of evidence produced by researchers, knowledge exchange between researchers and practitioners, or enaction by practitioners. The E-E-E framework for understanding knowledge needs A consistent finding from the discussion was agreement on needing better collaboration between practitioners and researchers for addressing gaps in evidence, knowledge exchange, and implementation. However, it was also highlighted that economic, political, and social factors often constrain collaboration. Looking to the future, an outcome of the research is a co-developed vision for a future research agenda, summarised with the following advice for finding solutions: Meeting practitioners’ knowledge needs is a continuous process that requires regular, transparent channels for practitioners to identify and share what they need. Co-developed vision for guiding future woodland restoration research Read more in the full report here: Setting the agenda: Rooting future woodland restoration research in practitioner needs Publication date 16 Oct, 2025
