Ros branches out on leadership programme

26/01/2023
Ros Wardman

ROS Wardman, who lives in Peebles, has beaten off stiff competition to win a place on a UK wide prestigious forestry leadership course.

The ‘Emerging Leader Programme’ is a new course being run by the Institute of Chartered Foresters and aims to develop future leaders in the industry.

Successful applicants enter a six-month programme to equip themselves with the right skills necessary to ensure trees, forests and woodlands are managed to deliver multiple benefits, well into the future.

Ros currently works for Scottish Forestry as their Forest Industries Advisor. For the last 14 years she has worked in operational forestry in the south and central Scotland, and studied at the National School of Forestry in Cumbria. 

She is thrilled to win her place on the programme and hopes to promote a forestry career to more women.

Ros said: “I’m really looking forward to working with other forestry professionals from all over UK to develop understanding and solutions to the challenges faced by forestry.

“A huge focus for me is to improve learning about how to increase diversity within the forestry workforce, with particular emphasis on attracting more women into the sector.

“We female foresters need to be more visible and we need to enable and encourage more people to know about the wide range of fulfilling career opportunities available in the forest industry.

“I’m also keen to show that people can change careers into forestry from totally different professions. I used to work as a freelance stage manager in theatre and opera which is a world away from forestry, but there are always skills you be bring to a new career.

“Although I would not normally rush towards the idea of being a leader, I think this style of development programme will really help me embrace the term more confidently.”

Competition for places on the programme was strong with nine other potential forestry leaders being selected from both the public, private and charitable sectors in Scotland.

The six-month programme is designed to help emerging leaders in the sector build their leadership potential, strengthen their networks and drive both social and organisational change.

For more information on careers in forestry and current jobs log onto the  Scottish Forestry website here.

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