11/08/2025
The World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE) is the largest global scientific forum to advance the field of engineering with wood as a building material. Numerous InnovaWood members attended, contributing to numerous sessions and building up their collaborations in this vibrant international community.
The WCTE 2025 was held from 19-22 June 2023 in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia, bringing together about 950 participants from 44 countries all over the world, to exchange on the latest trends and research findings in timber building. More than 700 papers were presented by attending scientists, engineers, architects and educators, covering the state-of-the-art in timber engineering and architecture, from codes of practice, regulations, and legislations, to innovations, new practices, and future trends of bio-based sustainable and circular building materials used in construction. A vivid social programme included the opening ceremony, a conference evening dinner, accompanying conference tours and side events.
Read the full summary article on the ARC Advance Timber Hub’s website.
Keynote presentations
A who is who of speakers offered interesting global overviews and insights:
- Keith Crews, Professor & Director of the Australian Research Council Research Hub, Queensland – Chair of WCTE2025
- Greg Nolan, Professor, University of Tasmania – Deputy Chair of WCTE2025
- Jan-Willem Van De Kuilen, Professor for Wood Technology, Technical University of Munich (TUM) – Chair of WCTE Coordinating Council
- Karl Heinz Weiss, Founder and Director of Weiss Insights, Professor of Practice at Melbourne University
- Philipp Dietsch, Professor and Head of Timber Structures and Building Construction, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
- Jodie Bricout, Design Director at Aurecon, Australia
- Katharina Lehmann, CEO, Blumer Lehmann, Switzerland
- Ralph Belperio, Major Project Director, Aurecon, Australia
- Harry Mills, Built by Nature, UK
- Phillip Tondl, Group Manager, Lipman, Australia
- Guy Gardner, Assistant Professor at School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Canada
- Gerald Epp, Manager of Business Development, Structure Craft, Canada
Scientific programme
During the rich four-day programme, more than 750 peer-reviewed papers and posters were presented. Over 50 parallel thematic sessions covered the following extended themes: i) Material Performance & Durability; ii) Sustainability and Timber in a Circular Economy; iii) Timber Engineering & Structural Performance; iv) Timber Architecture & Biophilic Design; v) Education, Innovation & Challenges; vi) Exemplars & Construction Case Studies.
Uwe Kies, Secretary General of InnovaWood, attended the conference and delivered two presentations of research papers on innovations and policies related to wood construction, which are results of the Horizon projects EUFORE and WoodStock:
- Trends in the development of innovative timber products on the construction market in Europe. Baño, V., Romih, P., van de Kuilen, J.-W., & Kies, U. (2025). WCTE 2025, Brisbane, Australia. https://doi.org/10.52202/080513-0514
- European policies influencing wood supply and demand in scenarios until 2040. Kies, U., Baño, V., & Pecurul-Botines, M. (2025). WCTE 2025, Brisbane, Australia. https://doi.org/10.52202/080513-0338
The full collection of papers is published in the WCTE 2025 Proceedings:
14th World Conference on Timber Engineering 2025 (WCTE 2025). Advancing Timber for the Future Built Environment. Proceedings. Editor: Kelly Rischmiller, University of Queensland, ARC Advance Timber Hub. Published by Curran Associates Inc. at ISBN 9798331320904, 5799 pages. Downloadable at https://doi.org/10.52202/080513
InnovaWood members
The conference was also a great moment to connect with many InnovaWood members, who delivered many contributions to the programme. The following member organisations were represented:
- Biel University of Applied Sciences (BFH), Switzerland
- BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria
- Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya -Institut Català de la Fusta (CTFC-INCAFUST), Spain
- Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
- InnoRenew CoE, Slovenia
- Norwegian Institute of Wood Technology (Treteknisk), Norway
- Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), Estonia
- Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany
- University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Slovenia
- OMTRE, Norway
A list of references of 47 papers from InnovaWood members can be downloaded here.
About WTCE
The World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE) is the world’s leading scientific forum and the most prestigious international event in the field of timber technology for construction, timber structures, and the design of timber architecture. The conference attracts between 800 and 1,200 participants and is held every other year on a different continent, bringing together researchers, engineers, architects, consultants, contractors, project managers, suppliers, and manufacturers from across the globe. The series of conferences started in 1984 in Auckland, New Zealand. Since 1998 in Montreux, Switzerland, it is known as the WCTE.
The WCTE 2025 was co-hosted by was co-organised by the Australian Research Council “Advance Timber Hub” and the University of Queensland. The upcoming WCTE 2027 will be held in Edmonton, Canada, hosted by the University of Alberta. The following WCTE 2029 will be held in Coimbra, Portugal, hosted by the University of Coimbra and the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC).
More info: WCTE2025 @ ARC Advance Timber Hub | wcte2025.org | WCTE LinkedIn
Acknowledgment
InnovaWood’s presented research was carried out with financial support by the research and innovation projects EUFORE (grant no. 01081788, 2022-2026) and WoodStock (grant no. 101181021, 2024-2028), funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme.
