As a member of the Afro European regional group, I (or we) would like to announce that we have been able to win two additional candidates for the working group: Mr Sami Dawood Madundo from the Department of Forest Engineering and Wood Sciences, Morogoro, Tanzania, and Mr Tim Lehne, Thünen Institute of Wood Research, Hamburg, Germany.

The background is that Mr Madundo has just completed a three-month (IUFRO-funded) visiting researcher stay in our lab at the Thünen Institute in Hamburg. The focus was on structural studies of mangroves from coastal areas of Tanzania. The two young scientists, Mr. Madundo and Mr. Lehne, worked together in an exemplary manner, and I see this as a great opportunity to strengthen international long-term scientific collaborations. During Mr Madundo’s stay, further connections with ongoing projects at our institute have already been established. For example, a Charcoal Atlas focusing on important wood species (in particular mangroves) along the east coast of Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique) and a collaborative project to differentiate species of the genus Entandrophragma is planned for the near future.

In this spirit, on behalf of the IAWA, we welcome our two new colleagues!

Tim Lehne	Sami Dawood Madundo