BOKU goes Australia
BOKU Wood Research in Down Under
Lena Maria Leiter wins the "Student Oral Presentation Award" of the SWST 65th International Convention.
In Kingscliff, NWS, Australia, 145 wood researchers from 19 countries met to exchange global perspectives on the present and future utilization of renewable materials. BOKU was represented by several participants of the doctoral school "Build.Nature".
At the 65th International Conference of the Society of Wood Science & Technology (SWST), held at Peppers Salt Resort & Spa in Kingscliff July 10-15, 2022, there were five presentations by BOKU scientists.
Lena Maria Leiter won first place in the Student Oral Presentation Competition with her presentation "Developing a Continuous Measurement Setup for Electrostatic Surface Charges, Implemented in Woodworking Processes." Ms. Leiter is funded by a DOC scholarship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and her dissertation focuses on physical phenomena in wood disintegration processes. The presentations were judged by a five-member international jury and Lena Maria Leiter was able to prevail over 26 competitors.
In the poster session, Ms. Shofi Fauziyyah presented first results of her PhD thesis with her contribution "Wood-Water Relationships of Fast-Grown Wood Species Coming From Indonesia and Austria". Lena Maria Leiter appeared with a contribution on science communication, entitled "Dancing Wood Fibers - Engage Children in Wood Science With Triboelectricity". Through "Story Telling", the aim was to show how children and adults can be encouraged to learn more about wood as a material.
Prof. Rupert Wimmer gave a presentation entitled "In-Situ Log Labelling and Earth Observation to Ensure Timber Legality", in cooperation with the BOKU startup "Beetle ForTech". Furthermore, a contribution entitled "Managing Wood Dust in the Wood Industry With Innovative Technologies" could be presented.
The conference program was accompanied by a "Women in Science Exhibition", special networking activities for young researchers and a "Student Trivia Night". The BOKU PhD students had the opportunity to meet international researchers and to build new friendships. In the course of the conference tour there was, among other things, the opportunity to learn more about the culture of the Australian aborigines. A visit to the well-known hardwood flooring manufacturer "Hurford Hardwood" near Lismore and a tour of a eucalyptus plantation of the Forest Corporation New South Wales rounded off the program.