The TREE Fund Board launches the new Trees and Soils Research Grant, made possible by a permanently limited endowment supporting areas of research of interest to the landscape architecture community, with a particular focus on the field of trees and the soils that support them.

Research priorities

• The research funded will include the following:
  • the design and specification of trees and soils in urban landscapes ;
  • propagation and nursery practices that have an impact on the impact on the establishment and long-term growth of trees;
  • improving diversity species ;
  • improving the root structure and canopy of trees;
  • design and modification of soil and drainage ;
  • practices plantation trees; layout of the tree planting area ;
  • tree establishment and maintenance practices; and
  • management and maintenance of planted soil.

Information on funding

• Projects should be completed within one to three years, and the maximum value of the grant is 10,000 $. No project may receive more than one award under this programme. This grant will be offered every two years starting in 2021.

Selection criteria

• Staff will review all applications to ensure that eligibility of the applicants, compliance with the submission instructions (including word count), alignment with the mission of the TREE Fund and compliance with the minimum requirements. Proposals meeting these criteria are then forwarded to the TREE Fund's Research and Education Committee for further, competitive evaluation. Potential applicants can be assured that the evaluators will give the utmost importance to the following points:
  • Track record of achievement of the investigation team. (Early career research scientists may wish to include others with more research experience as co-investigators or active advisors).
  • Potential contribution of the project to the arboricultural industry.
  • Approach, including statement of hypotheses and experimental design
  • Dissemination plan for the scientific community and pruning professionals
• TREE Fund does not discriminate on the grounds of race, colour, creed, sex, sexual orientation, disability or national or ethnic origin. Current trustees of the TREE Fund or any member of the family of such a trustee are not eligible to receive grants from the TREE Fund.

Ineligibility criteria

• The TREE Fund welcomes research proposals and applications from a wide range of academic and technical disciplines, both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The TREE Fund does not fund the following types of projects and will not accept applications for such work:
  • Grants to individuals ;
  • Projects that are mainly surveys or assessments of municipal trees ;
  • Tree planting programmes ;
  • The studies covered traditional forestry and timber production, agroforestry, ecology and the conservation of forest and other natural areas,
  • Product testing is mainly for the benefit of the company that manufactures the product.

For more information, please visit TREE Fund website.