Dr Chris Harwood was awarded a PhD in Environmental Biology from the Australian National University in 1976.  He worked at CSIRO forestry divisions from 1987 to 2018, mainly on tree breeding and forest plantation management. He was a Research Associate of the School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, until 2024.  Much of his work involved collaboration with developing country research agencies and was supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.  He has published extensively in the fields of tree breeding, plantation silviculture and wood quality and utilization. He received a IUFRO Science Achievement Award in 2014 and the Commonwealth Forestry Association’s SE Asia-Pacific Regional Medal in 2018.