Trinh Huynh
Timber Queensland has announced the recipients of the 2024-25 Growth Scholarship Awards Program. Timber Queensland’s Strategic Relations Manager Clarissa Brandt said the judging committees had been impressed by the range of applications received from every part of the industry supply chain. Source: Timberbiz
“Given we receive applications from people in academia to those working on the tools, our judges have to carefully choose recipients that demonstrate a strong sense of purpose, are focused on their career development and have designed a learning activity that will be beneficial individually and for Queensland’s forest and timber industry,” she said.
The recipients of the 2024–2025 Awards are:
- $10,000 Kennedy’s Timber Award Trinh Huynh Learning Activity “Silvopasture study tour in the Southeast Climate Hub in the US”
- $5000 AKD Award Matt Kavanagh Learning Activity “Growing Mechanisation Planting Study Tour”
- $5000 HQPlantations Award Bianca Andreis Da Cunha Learning Activity “Forestry’s Future: Women’s Protagonism in leading Sustainable change – Yale School of Management Executive Education’s online Women’s Leadership Program”
- $2500 DTM Timber Award Kristiina Marquardt Learning Activity “Training to obtain a Remote Pilot Licence (RePL) – Multirotor 25kg”
The recipient of the Kennedy’s Timber Award, Trinh Huynh, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Forest Research Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast.
She has planned a learning activity that will create strong bonds between Queensland and the United States Department of Agriculture.
Ms Huynh has a busy program of webinar presentations, field visits and knowledge acquisition that will assist both her career trajectory and make a significant contribution to the development of silvopastoral practices in Queensland.
“Silvopastoral systems integrate trees, pasture and livestock, providing environmental and economic benefits,” she said.
“The aim of my learning activity is to acquire practical knowledge and first-hand experience to enhance the development of silvopasture in Queensland, drawing on practices from the South East Climate Hub in the United States.
During field visits to North Carolina, Florida and Texas, Ms Huynh will observe diverse silvopastoral models, ranging from intensive pasture systems to tree plantations. These visits will provide a deep understanding of silviculture techniques, integration practices and management strategies of silvopastoral systems.
“By comparing the US government’s support for graziers in drought-prone areas with Queensland’s policies, I hope to understand which government initiatives are most effective in supporting silvopasture adoption and resilience,” she said.
Judges were impressed with the hands-on nature of HQPlantations Award recipient Matt Kavanagh’s application. Mr Kavanagh is a contractor who has been undertaking mechanical planting trials with support from Risutec and Randalls equipment.
Matt Kavanagh
“Working in our industry is just so enjoyable, there is always something different with new challenges,” said Mr Kavanagh.
“Mechanical planting has been another great experience, but I believe there is a lot more to learn to make it cost effective and provide efficiencies across different types of plantations we have in Queensland.”
Mr Kavanagh’s learning activity will see him travel to Finland to visit Risutec to view the forwarder based planting machine currently being developed and trialed called the Forest Maker.
“This machine is designed to scarify, plant, fertilise and map seedling locations in one action while having a higher seedlings per hour productivity over an excavator,” he said.
“I’m excited that I will be able to see how the forest maker machine works and how it may be adapted to operate in Queensland’s southern pine plantations.
“There are many challenges for mechanical planting such as harvest residue, already formed mounds that must be replanted or ploughed, stumps from previous crop and varying soil types that are very susceptible to seasonal conditions, which puts an emphasis to get the planting quality right.”
Attracting more women to work in Queensland’s male dominated forest and timber industry is an associated benefit of the learning activity to be undertaken by AKD Award recipient Bianca Andreis Da Cunha who works as Planning and Development Lead Forester at HQPlantations and has a lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable development.
Bianca Andreis Da Cunha
“My learning activity aims to leverage the insights and training from the Yale School of Management Executive Education’s online Women’s Leadership Program, providing me with the tools to address the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles and the substantial benefits of diversity and inclusivity in management,” said Ms Da Cunha.
“By completing this leadership program, I will enhance my professional potential and help include and develop more woman to work in forestry. This transformation will not only improve business outcomes but also enrich the organizational culture and challenge the existing gender biases in the sector, setting new benchmarks for environmental and community engagement standards.”
Having recently completed a Master’s Degree in Forest and Nature Management and now working at ecological engineering firm Verterra, Kristiina Marquardt aspires to become an expert in working with different stakeholders to find ways to restore, conserve and sustainably manage forest for multiple objectives.
Kristiina Marquardt
Ms Marquardt applied for the DTM Timber Award and will undertake a Remote Pilot Licence Multirotor 25kgs course to obtain an initial Remote Pilot Licence.
“Through this training course, I will gain both theoretical and legal knowledge and practical competencies in operating multirotor remotely piloted aircraft applicable to forest management and I will gain the licence to operate the appropriate drones,” she said.
Increasing her skill set will be of benefit to Ms Marquardt as her career progresses and she expands her interest in the science of forest restoration and reforestation, and how different ecological and socio-economic factors can affect the success of a project.
Ms Brandt said there was a commonality in this year’s scholarship applications – passion for the industry.
“Passion and persistence are integral in growing a satisfying career,” she said.
“This year the winners include a person that has been persistent, it hasn’t been the first time they’ve applied, so we strongly encourage those who may have missed out in this round to revisit their application and participate in the application development workshops that we are planning to host in early 2025,” she said.
“Similarly, the ongoing support and commitment of our Foundation partner Kennedy’s Timber, Diamond partners AKD and HQPlantations and our Ruby partner DTM Timber means that interest in the Growth Scholarship is expanding. We would like to thank all our partners for their gracious support, as well as the industry stakeholders who assisted with the selection process.”
