James Morison leads the Climate Change Research Group at Forest Research, the research agency of the Forestry Commission. The Group works on the impact of the changing climate on trees and forests, and on adaptation measures, and on the role of forestry in mitigating climate change. He was previously involved in a NERC PURE project led by the University of Manchester on a case study of the NZ Wildfire Threat Analysis approach for understanding fire risk, and in the UK Climate Change Risk Assessments.   

James has been at Forest Research since 2008, having previously worked in the Universities of Essex (readership in plant ecophysiology) and Reading (lectureship in agricultural meteorology), particularly researching the effect of climate change on plant growth since a post-doc position in CSIRO in Australia in the early 1980’s.

Forest Research’s role in the project is over describing and mapping forest fuels, in extending the analysis of wildfire incidence data, and in forestry advice and knowledge exchange and engagement with stakeholders and the forestry sector.