Introduction

Graduate School in Forest Sciences (GSForest, former Graduate School for Forest Ecology) was established by the Ministry of Education in 1995. At present it has 19 four-year-positions for PhD students provided by the Ministry of Education and about 60 PhD students who finance their PhD studies by other means (for example by the Academy of Finland and different foundations).

The aim of GSForest is to educate doctors, who are international experts in forest sciences and forestry on the following topics: Ecophysiology of forest trees, forest and mire ecology, environmental management of forests, forest economics and marketing, and forest resource management. The courses organised by GSForest are mainly funded by the Academy of Finland.

GSForest is coordinated by the School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland (UEF). The other participants at UEF are Department of Biology (Joensuu Campus) and Department of Environmental Sciences (Kuopio Campus); and the University of Helsinki, University of Oulu, University of Kuopio and the Finnish Forest Research Institute.

GSForest belongs to the Finnish Graduate School Network in Life Sciences (FinBioNet). GSForest has co-operation with other graduate schools e.g. with Forest Cluster Graduate School, EnSTe, NatuRe, Estonian Doctoral School in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, FIRST and Swedish Research School Sustainable Management and Utilization of Forests.