SGGW Rector appointed Vice-Chair of KRASP [Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland]
The Plenary Assembly of the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland [KRASP} elected new authorities of KRASP for the 2024-2028 term.
Prof. dr hab. Bogumiła Kaniewska, the Rector of Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu was elected the Chair of the KRASP.
The Vice-Chairs of KRASP are:
prof. dr hab. Michał Zasada, Rector of Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego,
and
prof. dr hab. Jerzy Lis, Rektor of Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza w Krakowie
Michał Jerzy Zasada graduated from the Faculty of Forestry of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) with a master’s degree in Forestry in 1993. He started working at the Department of Dendometry and Forest Productivity soon after graduation. He got his degree of PhD in 1998, habilitation in the field of forest management in 2008, and the title of Professor of Forest Sciences in 2014. During his career at SGGW, he served as Vice-Dean for Didactics (2005-2008), Dean of the Faculty of Forestry (2008-2012), Vice-Dean for Science (2012-2016), Associate Professor in the Laboratory of Dendrometry and Forest Productivity (since 2010), and Chair of the Senate Committee on Teaching and Education (2008-2012). Between 2009 and 2011 he was a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel to the Director General of the State Forests, and between 2011 and 2015 he was a member and vice-chair of the Committee on Forest Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. From 2012-2016 he was a member of the Scientific Council of the Forest Research Institute in Sękocin Stary. In 2013–2018, he was the financial auditor of the European Forest Institute (EFI). He was a member of programme councils of the journals Folia Forestalia Polonica, Open Forest Science Journal and Studia i Materiały Centrum Edukacji Przyrodniczo-Leśnej w Rogowie (2008–2012). In 2001–2004, he held a postdoctoral fellowship at the D.B. Warnell School of Forest and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia, USA, dealing mainly with modelling the effects of economic and environmental changes and their impact on the changes in forest resources. He held the position of adjunct assistant professor at the University of Georgia, USA, from 2004 to 2012. He is currently a professor in the Department of Dendrometry and Forest Productivity Science.
Prof. Zasada’s research interests focus mainly on dendrometry, forest productivity science and woodland management, especially the modelling of tree and tree stand growth, modern forest measurement methods and the application of decision support systems in forest management planning. He is the author of more than 120 scientific publications, including more than 50 in journals with impact factor. As a manager or main contractor, he was involved in research funded by national (the State Committee for Scientific Research, the Polish National Science Centre, the National Centre for Research and Development and the Directorate General of State Forests) and international (7. Framework Programme and Horizon 2020) funds. As an expert, he evaluated research projects funded by FP7 and COST. He was an expert in teaching projects funded by the Tempus Programme and Norway Grants, as well as an expert in the accreditation board evaluating three universities in Kyrgyzstan. He lectured at the Saken Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and the Agricultural University of Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgia, and provided woodland management training to Georgian foresters.
He reviewed articles in numerous national and international journals, including Forest Science, Journal of Forestry, Forest Ecology and Management, Annals of Forest Science, Canadian Journal of Forest Research, Silva Fennica, Sylwan, Biometrical Letters, Folia Forestalia Polonica, Annals of Geomatics, Remote Sensing of Environment and Mathematical Biosciences.
He was a supervisor of four completed doctoral procedures concerning the influence of habitat conditions on the radial growth of Norway spruce in north-eastern Poland and Baltic countries, dendroecology of Schrenk’s spruce in Kyrgyzstan and history, status and perspectives of introduction of Douglas fir in Poland and western red cedar in Germany. He was a reviewer in four postdoctoral procedures and six doctoral procedures. He acted as an opponent in a doctoral procedure at the University of Eastern Finland. Currently, he is a research supervisor of three doctoral students. Prof. Michał Zasada held the position of Vice-Chair of the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland in the previous term of office. He is a member of the board of CASEE, the ICA Regional Network for Central and South Eastern Europe, the programme council of the Austrian Journal of Forest Science and the Council for Agriculture and Rural Areas to the President of the Republic of Poland. He is a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences Committee on Forest Sciences and Wood Technology and the Polish Forestry Association. For his research and organisational activities, he has repeatedly received the SGGW Rector Awards. He received the Silver Medal for Long Service in 2015 and the Silver Cross of Merit in 2018.