Young Professional Foresters’ Exchange Programme — Professional Role

The Young Professional Foresters’ Exchange Programme places early-career foresters with a host employer in another partner country for three months of paid work. The Institute of Chartered Foresters runs it together with the Canadian Institute of Forestry, the New Zealand Institute of Forestry and Forestry Australia.

Each national institute selects its own candidates — the 2026 cycle sent six people out, two from the UK, two from Australia, one from Canada and one from New Zealand, to hosts including Sustainable Timbers Tasmania, OneFortyOne, James Jones & Sons and the Ontario Woodlot Association. Placements cover real forestry work: harvest prescriptions and block layout, high-value conservation area assessment, road layout, silviculture data collection and modelling, research support, urban forestry, and tree planting and nursery operations.

Placements normally run June to August, with exact timing agreed between the candidate and the host employer. Participants blog during the exchange and write an article about it afterwards.

Benefits & funding

Three-month paid placement — the host employer pays a salary commensurate with the role and provides an appropriate annual leave entitlement.
A bursary on top, set by the institute the application goes through: £3,000 through the Institute of Chartered Foresters, C$5,000 through the Canadian Institute of Forestry, NZ$6,000 through the New Zealand Institute of Forestry.
The bursary is meant for the participant’s own costs: flights, accommodation, local transport, food, visas, insurance and incidentals.
The host organisation arranges the employment contract, handles HR and compliance clearance for a non-national worker, and supplies contacts for short-term rental accommodation nearby.
A professional network across four national forestry institutes, plus a published article on the exchange.

Eligibility

Open to nationals of Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia, applying through their own national institute. The UK route requires a valid UK passport; the Canadian route requires Canadian citizenship.
Aged 30 or under at the time of the exchange — a working-visa constraint.
Early career: from the point of graduation up to five years after it. Canadian applicants for the 2026 round had to have graduated on or after June 2021.
A degree, diploma or qualification in forestry or a related natural resource management subject. Canadian applicants need a CIF-IFC Silver Ring recognised programme.
Membership of the institute being applied through — ICF, CIF-IFC, NZIF or Forestry Australia — must be in place before applying.
Eligible for a work visa in the destination country (UK applicants: Canada, New Zealand or Australia).
A valid driving licence, since placements often involve driving.
Written approval from the current line manager for a sabbatical covering the placement.

Can you apply?

Here's who can apply

Decoded from the official rules. A free account checks them against your passport, degree and age in seconds.

Eligible nationalities
Australia · Canada · New Zealand · UK
Education required
Bachelor
Experience required
≤ 5 yrs
Age requirement
≤ 30 yrs

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Application process

1
Join the national forestry institute for your country if not already a member.
2
Download the application form from that institute’s programme page.
3
Secure line manager approval for a three-month sabbatical.
4
Write a 500-word personal statement covering forestry engagement, extracurricular activity and the expected professional and personal benefit of the exchange.
5
Assemble a scan of the degree certificate and a CV showing academic history (institution, programme, year of graduation) and employment history.
6
Arrange three to five independent referees, who email their letters directly to the programme contact by the same deadline.
7
Email the personal statement, certificate, CV and application form as one combined document to the programme contact before the deadline — for UK applicants, rob.hawkins@charteredforesters.org.
8
Results are announced by the end of January; selected candidates are then matched to a host employer.

Program timeline

16 January 2026
Application deadline for the 2026 cycle, 23:59 GMT
January 2026
2026 candidates announced — six selected
June to August 2026
2026 placements run
End of June 2026
Deadline for host employers to commit to a 2027 placement
October 2026
Applications open for the 2027 cycle
January 2027
Applications close for the 2027 cycle
End of January 2027
2027 candidates announced
June to August 2027
2027 placements run