Dr Gillian Petrokofsky
Dr Gillian Petrokofsky
Gill focuses on action research to support evidence-based decision making in forestry and land-use. She works in multidisciplinary teams to engage communities of interest, who collectively contribute to exploring and solving contemporary problems facing the sector.
Systematic Evidence Evaluation
Gill conducts systematic reviews and systematic maps following good practice guidance from the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence, with whom she works on their Guidelines Editorial Group. OxLEL explores the use of rapid systematic evaluation to explore how these tools can be more widely used in research as well as for decision-making. Gill led a collaborative project co-ordinated by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), with its international partners to establish the Evidence-Based Forestry (EBF) Initiative from 2012-2015 and continues to work on outputs from that initiative with scientists in Partner institutions – CATIE, CIRAD, ICRAF and IUFRO and universities across the world. The Initiative reflects the Partner institutions’ leading roles in generating evidence for policy processes about forests and forestry, defined broadly in the contexts of both landscapes and sustainable development. The EBF Initiative was established to facilitate and promote use of systematic methods for informing decisions and actions about forests and forestry. The EBF initiative was supported with resources contributed by UK DfID’s Know For Program Grant. To date, the EBF initiative work has established a mechanism for introducing evidence-informed frameworks to conduct systematic reviews and systematic maps that conform to standards of existing collaborations. Protocols and completed reviews are published in Open Access peer-reviewed journals, and summaries for policy makers and other stakeholders are published in a variety of accessible ways, including Policy Briefs, blogs and podcasts.
An international project – T20Q (Top Twenty Questions for Forestry & Landscapes) - to determine high priority research and policy questions ran during 2014 in collaboration with the Sylva Foundation, an established partner of the Oxford Long-term Ecology Laboratory and Biodiversity Institute. Outputs from that project are being used to inform future priorities for systematic reviews.
British Woodlands Surveys
Gill works with the Sylva Foundation to explore attitudes and behaviour of woodland owners in the UK with respect to managing for multiple objectives and resilience, This social research includes large-scale online surveys and stakeholder workshops involving woodland owners and managers. tree nurseries and professionals with an interest in research and practice in the field. To date we have conducted British Woodlands Surveys in 2012, funded by a consortium of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Forestry Commission, Woodland Trust, Natural England, and the Institute of Chartered Foresters, in 2014, funded by the Woodland Trust in partnership with the Heritage Lottery Fund, and 2015, with funding from the Forestry Commission and the Woodland Trust. The survey for 2017, funded by the Scottish Forestry Trust, Forestry Commission Scotland, and Woodland Trust, incorporated, for the first time, phases that engage stakeholders in the framing of the survey. in addition to online engagement there will be workshops in England, Scotland and Wales. This was repeated in 2020 for a survey exploring awareness, action and aspirations in the forestry sector in responding to environmental change, funded by Sylva Foundation, Forest Research and the Forestry Commission. BWS 2021 is ongoing, in collaboration with Bangor University on threats to oak in the UK. More information here.
Selected Publications
Petrokofsky G, Harvey WJ, Petrokofsky L, Ochieng CA. The Importance of Time-Saving as a Factor in Transitioning from Woodfuel to Modern Cooking Energy Services: A Systematic Map. Forests. 2021; 12(9):1149. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12091149
Petrokofsky G, Savilaakso S. The Value of Systematic Evidence Synthesis in Forestry, Land Use and Development to Improve Research, Decision-Making and Practice. Forests. 2021; 12(10):1355. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12101355
Jordon MW, Willis KJ, Harvey WJ, Petrokofsky L, Petrokofsky G. Implications of Temperate Agroforestry on Sheep and Cattle Productivity, Environmental Impacts and Enterprise Economics. A Systematic Evidence Map. Forests. 2020; 11(12):1321. https://doi.org/10.3390/f11121321
Kimanzu N, Schulte-Herbrüggen B, Clendenning J, Chiwona-Karltun L, Krogseng K, Petrokofsky G. What Is the Evidence Base Linking Gender with Access to Forests and Use of Forest Resources for Food Security in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? A Systematic Evidence Map. Forests. 2021; 12(8):1096. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12081096
