October 2018

The University of Sopron, the BOKU University from Vienna in conjunction with the COST Action FP1407 – ModWoodLife, and FATE (Wood Science Association from Hungary) organized the 8th Hardwood Conference with a special focus on new aspects of hardwood utilization – from science to technology.

Wood utilization in Europe is strongly related to softwoods, however due to specific developments, such as climate change, hardwoods are becoming more and more important. This is why new and improved tracks for a competitive hardwood utilization need to be found based on hardwood research results.

Our director Dr Andreja Kutnar, also chair of the COST action FP1407 ModWoodLife, participated at the conference as a keynote speaker in the session about the impacts and results delivered through international networking and as a chair of the session dedicated to Wood Modification. Our researchers Dr Václav Sebera and Jaka Pečnik presented their research topics in this session. Dr Sebera gave a talk about fracture toughness of thermally modified wood in mode II, and Jaka presented the static and dynamic performance of wood modified with phenol formaldehyde.

Dr Andreja Kutnar. Image: 8th Hardwood Conference

Dr Václav Sebera. Image: 8th Hardwood Conference

Jaka Pečnik. Image: 8th Hardwood Conference

Our assistant researcher and project manager Barbara Rovere participated in the session dedicated to new hardwood product approaches. She presented her work on the European Hardwoods Innovation Alliance and the first results of a European survey on hardwoods research needs and priorities.

Barbara Rovere. Image: 8th Hardwood Conference

All presentations of our InnoRenew CoE researchers were very well received by the audience and by the organizers.