We are forming a transnational consortium for the FORESTPathways Joint Call 2026 (Topic 2, Adaptive and Multifunctional Forest Management Systems) and invite research-performing organisations to join as full partners. Teagasc and other insistitution will contribute an Irish network of storm-affected plantation forests. We are seeking two further research institutes, each from a different country participating in the call, to complete a three-country consortium. Each institute must be an independent legal entity and eligible for funding from its own national or regional funder, and should confirm its eligibility and funding limits before submission.

Each partner would bring its own forest research sites, representing a climate, species mix, ownership structure and management system that contrasts with Ireland’s. We expect roughly 10 to 15 managed stands in at least two regions, with owner access secured. Partners should also contribute relevant infrastructure and data, such as permanent plots, national inventory data, storm or disturbance records, LiDAR, UAV or satellite processing, and modelling capacity, along with expertise in at least one of silviculture, risk modelling, remote sensing, forest economics, owner decision-making or decision-support development. Access to local forest owners, advisers and policy contacts for a national Living Lab is also needed.

Participation will be equal. All partners, including the Irish partners, will have one Steering Board representative and one vote, and each will lead or co-lead at least one substantive work package or task. All will apply the same minimum field and sensing protocol on their own sites, and every country’s data will be used to test whether methods transfer. Each partner keeps ownership of its own data, while data sharing, authorship and intellectual property rules will apply equally under the consortium agreement. Budgets will reflect each partner’s work within its national funding rules.

Interested institutes are asked to send a one-page reply giving their country and funder, the forest sites they could offer, their infrastructure and expertise, the task they would like to lead, and their expected funding route. Partners will be selected for scientific complementarity, site contrast and eligibility, not only to meet the three-country minimum.

Teagasc, the Agriculture and Food Development Authority, is Ireland’s national body for agriculture and food research, advisory services and training. It is a public body funded mainly by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and its work covers farm and land-based systems, the environment, and rural development. Its forestry work includes research on plantation forest management and advice to forest owners, linking field research with the practical decisions of owners, foresters and policy makers. In FOREST DECIDE, Teagasc is the proposed coordinator. It will contribute its Irish forest stand network, field coordination, risk and trajectory modelling, and engagement with owners, advisers and policy users, working with South East Technological University (SETU), which is proposed to lead remote sensing and data processing.