Meet Your Instructors

Dr. John Innes

John is Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. He teaches in the field of international forestry and sustainable forest management. John came to British Columbia in 1999, having previously worked as a Section Head in the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research. Since arriving in BC, he has worked on a range of issues associated with forest management. He is actively involved with climate change research, particularly its effects on forest ecosystems and the development of appropriate management strategies for adaptation, and in 2007 was part of the IPCC team that shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.

John has long had a strong interest in tropical forests. His first experience was while being an undergraduate: his research project was on the birds of tropical montane forests in northern Tanzania. Since then he has visited and worked in tropical forests all over the world. Recently, he has been leading a research project on the effects of climate change on tropical forests in several Asian countries, including Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and China. He is particularly interested in the tropical rainforests of northeastern Australia and their unique flora and fauna.

John is a Registered Professional Forester in Australia and a Chartered Environmentalist and member of the Institute of Ecologists and Environmental Managers in the UK.

For a short video introducing John, see:

Dr. Terry Sunderland

Terry is a professor in tropical forestry and food security at the University of British Columbia. He was previously a principal scientist at the Centre for International Forestry research, Indonesia, where he worked on forests and food security, biodiversity conservation and integrated landscape management. Prior to this, he was based in West Africa working on conservation and livelihood-focused initiatives. Terry has a Master's degree in forestry from the University of Oxford and a PhD from the University of London. Having both a field practitioner and academic background gives him a wide perspective on conservation, livelihoods and issues related to sustainable landscape management.

For a short video introducing Terry, see:

Dr. Su See Lee

Su See has a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Botany from the University of Malaysia, and an MSc from University Putra Malaysia. She began her research career as a senior research officer and Head of Mycology and Pathology Laboratory at the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM). Her PhD, which she obtained from the University of Aberdeen in the UK, was on the biology of the mycorrhizas of the Dipterocarpaceae.

Sue See continued working in FRIM where she advanced to the position of principal research officer and then Deputy Division Director & Head, Forest Health and Conservation Programme, Biodiversity Division in 2009. After retiring from FRIM, she became a freelance consultant on forest and tree health.

Her various achievements have been recognized locally, nationally and internationally. She got more than a dozen of the FRIM Publication Awards in various categories in 1994-2012, the FRIM Best Scientist Award, and two the FRIM Director General awards – as the Leader in Scientific Writing (Tokoh Penulisan Saintifik) and the Pearl of International Forestry Science (Mutiara Sains Perhutanan Antarabangsa) in 2010. For the services to the nation, she gained the Ahli Mangku Negara (A.M.N.) Award in 2007. As well, in 2009 she was conferred Honorary Member of the Malaysian Nature Society.

In August 2000, the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations Scientific Achievement Award (IUFRO SAA) recognized her research achievements and contributions to forest pathology and dipterocarp mycorrhizal research.

For a short video introducing Su See, please see: