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Wood Technology Group

Covering all aspects of timber and wood based materials, and how their characterisation and properties influence their selection and use

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  • Overview

The IOM3 Wood Technology Group (formerly the Wood Technology Society) provides a technical focus for those engaged in all aspects of the the scientific, technical, practical, management/selection/and use of all timber and wood based materials.

 

Latest wood technology news & resources

7 May 2022

Wood is a sustainable alternative in the face of steel shortages, academic says

Building with wood could make construction more sustainable and supply chains more resilient says a professor at Aalto University in Finland.

News
4 May 2022

Tetra Pak launch Brazilian forest biodiversity initiative

Goal is to restore equivalent of 9,800 football pitches by 2030.

News
2 May 2022

Wood Awards 2022 open for entries

Any UK-based wood project is invited to enter and has until 1 July 2022 to submit their free applications.

News
See more resources

Latest newsletter

View the latest newsletter produced by the Wood Technology Leadership Team

View now

 

Meet the Wood Technology Leadership Team

Graham Ormondroyd

Graham Ormondroyd

IOM3 Wood Technology Group Chair

Morwenna Spear

Morwenna Spear

Research Scientist, The BioComposites Centre, Bangor University

Andrew True

Andrew True

John Park FIMMM

John Park FIMMM

Iain Thew

Iain Thew

Gervais Sawyer FIMMM

Gervais Sawyer FIMMM

Dr Martin Ansell FIMMM

Dr Martin Ansell FIMMM

Jim Coulson CEnv FIMMM

Jim Coulson CEnv FIMMM

Graham Ormondroyd

Graham Ormondroyd

IOM3 Wood Technology Group Chair

Dr. Ormondroyd completed his PhD (Wood Science) at Bangor University, UK and has been the Head of Materials Research at the BioComposites Centre for 18 years and Reader in Biobased materials since February 2020. In that time has written many proposals, papers and undertaken commercial works in all aspects of biomaterials science. Dr. Ormondroyd has over 100 publications including peer reviewed papers, conference proceedings, book chapters and edited books, he continues to publish regularly. Dr. Ormondroyd is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining, a member of the International Research Group on Wood Protection and Chair of the Wood Technology Group.

Morwenna Spear

Morwenna Spear

Research Scientist, The BioComposites Centre, Bangor University

Dr Morwenna Spear has a BSc (Hons) in Forestry and Forest Products, and a PhD in Natural Fibre Composite Materials. Her research interests include the physical, mechanical and thermal properties of wood and has applied a wide range of techniques to understand and develop wood modification technologies. She also has experience of scaling-up new technologies for industry, and value-adding for timber. Morwenna also has a strong interest in the use of timber as a renewable and sustainable construction material, considering availability, embodied and sequestered carbon, and the route to net zero. She works closely with the timber industry in Wales and the UK. She has also conducted market studies on the forest products sector, the use of timber in construction and the bio-based composites sector.

Dr Spear has supervised a number of MSc and PhD students in topics relating to timber and bio-based materials. She is involved in the Places of Climate Change research group and Plastics Research Centre Wales within Bangor University. She has written many book chapters on topics including: natural materials, wood based composites, timber properties and recycling. Morwenna is the vice Chair of the Wood Technology Society of the IOM3.

Andrew True

Andrew True

Andrew has extensive experience in the softwood sector of the timber trade, and retired from active trading in 2018. He has a BA (Hons) gained during employment with the National Coal Board. This was followed by a period at TRADA. Then came 11 years working in the London office of the Canadian softwood shipper Seaboard, before moving to Weyerhaeuser Company at Windsor ending as UK Director. From 1992 he was owner director of a softwood sales agency business representing primary sawmills and selling to customers in a number of countries.

He is a past Chair of the Wood Technology Society and a Fellow of the Institute.  Andrew has been presented with the IOM3 Outstanding Contribution Award.

John Park FIMMM

John Park FIMMM

John qualified as a wood technologist going on to specialise in wood-frame housing and timber engineering. In the industry since 1974 he sits on several UK and European standards committees and is currently an independent consultant working in the UK.

A passionate advocate for wood, providing it is legally obtained from sustainably managed forests, John is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) and is immediate Past Chairman of the WTS.

Iain Thew

Iain Thew

Iain Thew is a Structural Engineer with a particular interest in timber and conservation. He works for Structural and Civil Consultants, a practice which specialises in the design and specification of British grown hardwoods, and is a keen advocate for the wider use of timber in construction in the UK. He is a qualified visual strength grader and has considerable experience in surveying historic timber structures.

Iain was a member on the Younger Members' Committee from 2011 until 2018.

Gervais Sawyer FIMMM

Gervais Sawyer FIMMM

Gervais started working in the wood industry at the age of 18, studying Wood Technology at evening classes. His work experience included hardwoods, softwoods, veneers and wood preservation. While pursuing a career in works management he found that most of his time was taken up by training suitable staff and so moved into full-time lecturing. Whilst at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University he gained a Diploma in Wood Science. In later years, he spent his time in consultancy for the Forest Products Research Centre.

Although retired in 2007, he is now the editor of the International Wood Products Journal. He is also very active in schools’ outreach, promoting the wonders of wood to schoolchildren everywhere. He is also a busy consultant solving problems related to wood and manufactures equipment and test materials for the preservation industry.

Dr Martin Ansell FIMMM

Dr Martin Ansell FIMMM

Martin Ansell is a University of Sussex graduate in materials science with a PhD researching glassy electronic materials awarded by the University of London. Following two years of industrial research at Standard Telecommunication Laboratory, Harlow, Essex he moved to the University of Bath where he was eventually promoted to reader in materials science. Throughout his career at Bath he has won numerous grants from UK research councils and the European Union and managed Knowledge Transfer Partnerships working with industry. He supervised over 30 graduate PhD students and was external examiner for degree programmes at Buckinghamshire College and Swansea University. He was President of the Institute of Wood Science from 1994-1996 and currently sits on the Board of the Wood Technology Group. Following retirement in 2017 he became an honorary reader and continues to enjoy engaging in materials research within the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Bath. 

Jim Coulson CEnv FIMMM

Jim Coulson CEnv FIMMM

Jim Coulson CEnv FIMMM FFB AIWSc is a consultant Wood Scientist who founded and still runs TFT Woodexperts Limited: based in North Yorkshire since 1991.

His early career in Wood Science was spent at TRADA – in the days when that organisation was still an independent Research Association – and where he first of all worked in the Training Department, teaching Strength Grading and other Timber Technology skills to members of the Timber Trade. He later transferred to TRADA’s Regional Service, running their network of ten Regional Offices: but when TRADA was privatised, Jim left and set up his own consultancy practice, which has now been running successfully for 30 years. Woodexperts teaches and examines both an Accredited Level 4 Certificate in Wood Science and Timber Technology and an Accredited Level 6 Diploma in Advanced Wood Science. The practice also works with both UK and international clients, solving timber problems and writing Expert Witness Reports on all manner of wood-related topics.
 
Jim’s first timber qualification was in 1976: when he gained Distinction in the Certificate in Timber Studies at Buckinghamshire College. He followed this with two prizes – in the Institute of Wood Science Certificate Course in 1977 and the IWSc Associateship Course in 1978 – thus gaining his full qualifications in advanced Wood Science and Timber Engineering.

In 1986, he was elected as a Fellow of the Faculty of Building and in 2004, he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Wood Science, following his period as President of that organisation from 2002-2004. 

After the merger of the IWSc with the IOM3, Jim was created a Fellow of the IOM3 in 2014; and he later qualified as a Chartered Environmentalist in 2016 – forty years after gaining his initial Wood Science qualification. 

He sits on a couple of BSI Committees, concerned with structural timber matters and sustainable development in construction; and he is a member of the International Wood Committee for ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites). He is also a member of the International Research Group on Wood protection (IRG-WP). 

Jim has published three books: “Wood in Construction” (2012) “The Sustainable Use of Wood” (2014); and “A Handbook for the Sustainable Use of Wood in Construction” (2021).

In his private life, Jim is a Setter of both cryptic and quick crossword puzzles; having first been published in the Listener (the then BBC magazine) in 1975. After more than forty years, he still sets occasionally for The Listener Puzzle series (now published in The Times every Saturday) under the pseudonym of Jago; and he also sets for the Sunday Telegraph’s Enigmatic Variations series under the pseudonym of X-Type (he also sets the back-page Cryptic and Quick puzzles for the Daily Telegraph once a month – usually on a Tuesday – but those puzzles do not carry any Setter’s name). Members of IOM3 who read Materials World will also come across Jim’s monthly “themed” crosswords – set under the pseudonym of Anobium (the name for the scientific Genus of “Woodworm”).
 

 

Join the IOM3 wood technology community (logged in members only) and receive updates about the latest relevant news, technical content and events. 

RT @Magdalena_Broda: Call for papers: @Forests_MDPI Special Issue "#PhysicalProperties of #Wood". More information: https://t.co/SG6FSkx2…

@Wood Technology Society
Tuesday, 7 December 2021

RT @WKWales: Listen to Rob Thomas @HiraethArch and @MattStevens0n talk #innovation and join the conversation! Hosted by @taityfucartref…

@Wood Technology Society
Thursday, 2 December 2021

RT @iom3: IOM3 has partnered with @ASMInternatnl to offer a mutual e-membership connecting materials professionals together from all over t…

@Wood Technology Society
Monday, 29 November 2021

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Talking Timber

These regular one page articles are topical, informative and educational, covering a range of aspects relating to wood and the timber business. 

This is an ongoing series contributed by IOM3 members or contacts, published in the TTJ (Timber Trade Journal) and reproduced with their kind permission. 

21 April 2022

In search of freedom

John Park FIMMM ponders the Brexit Freedoms Bill and what it might mean for the timber industry

21 February 2022

Mysteries new and old

Dr Morwenna Spear FIMMM gets to the heart of the matter regarding juvenile and mature fibres

19 November 2021

Marlon Brando understood

John Park suggests two Christmas present list essentials for everyone

1 October 2021

Softwood...Respect!

The market should learn to appreciate the value of softwood, says John Park WTS board member

1 August 2021

The True value of wood

Higher prices means more scope for investment and innovation, says WTS's Andrew True

1 June 2021

Words from wood

Wood-related terms have entered common parlance, say Andrew True and John Park

1 April 2021

Plywood Revisited

Plywood should be fit for purpose and its credentials should be indelibly marked and legible, but as John Park WTS board member points out, this is not always the case

1 February 2021

How others see you

Gervais Sawyer's wood science credentials are hidden from view when he goes shopping for timber

1 December 2020

Innovation Imperatives

There has never been a better time to be involved in research for the further development of wood, says WTS Chair, Graham Ormondroyd

1 October 2020

Juvenile delinquency in trees

What happens to a tree's branches as it gets older determines not just the prevalence of knots but also the nature of the resultant wood fibre. John Park WTS board member reports

View the Talking Timber archive

 

Forthcoming events

  • Free
  • Webinar
  • 19 May 2022

Natural Materials Group Lunchtime Seminars: Focus on Textiles

The next webinar in the NMA lunchtime series, ways to reinvent dyeing and textiles industry with a focus on sustainable future for textiles.

  • Webinar
  • 14 June 2022

Failure Mechanisms in Titanium Alloys

This webinar will feature presentations from lead experts in the field of titanium alloys and their failure modes.

  • Free
  • Webinar
  • 17 June 2022

Elastomers Used in Electric Vehicles

This webinar will specifically discuss and address relevant challenges and solutions to very important transportation issues.

See more events

Distance learning courses to support professional development in the wood industry

Want to develop your career in the wood industry and study at your own pace? 

We offer a number distance learning courses leading to qualifications that can be followed at a time and pace to suit you.  You can sign up to the following at any time throughout the year. 

PIABC Level 3 Certificate in Wood Technology & Application

A course for those that wish to develop their career in the wood industry further.

Find out more

 

PIABC Level 2 Award in Timber & Panel Products & Their Uses

A course for those new to the wood industry or wishing to broaden their knowledge.

Find out more

International Wood Products Journal

 

International Wood Products Journal (formerly The Journal of the Institute of Wood Science) publishes peer reviewed contributions on all aspects of wood science, engineering and technology, its processing and applications.

 

IOM3 members have free online access to this journal (please log in and click on the "Access journals" page in the side menu to reveal the link to the Taylor & Francis portal)

 

International Wood Products Journal

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Providing a focus for fibre-reinforced composite materials and structures

See all our communities

 

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The Institute is a body incorporated by Royal Charter (company no RC000267) and a charity registered in England & Wales (269275) and in Scotland (SC050586). Patron: HM The Queen. © 2022 IOM3

 

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