The doctoral dissertation in the field of Forestry will be examined at the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology, Joensuu campus.
What is the topic of your doctoral research? Why is it important to study the topic?
This research investigated how gamification and playful approaches can help collect forest data to inform forest planning decision-making. Gamification involves applying game-like elements to everyday activities to make them more engaging. Traditional methods of involving the public in forest planning often struggle with low participation and limited diversity among those who take part.
At the same time, while forest planning increasingly relies on precise technical data, it remains difficult to capture how people actually experience forests in practice. This creates a gap between what forests are and what they mean to people. This dissertation explored whether play, from geocaching adventures in forests to scanning trees with augmented reality games on mobile phones, can help bridge this gap and support more informed and inclusive forest decisions.
What are the key findings or observations of your doctoral research?
The research explored three complementary questions. First, can existing recreational location-based games collect useful data for forest planning? By embedding surveys within geocaching trails across Finnish forests, the study showed that people playing outdoor games will voluntarily share thoughtful reflections about their forest experiences, including what they value, what concerns them, how landscapes make them feel, and how they behave in forests, which does not always align with survey responses.
However, participation was strongly influenced by accessibility and declined after the initial novelty period, raising an important question: if we want to build new relationships with the many communities that use forests, how do we sustain that engagement over time, rather than simply capturing a moment of curiosity?
Building on this, the research developed augmented reality applications that turned scanning forests and trees with a mobile phone equipped with laser sensors into playful experiences, from vacuuming virtual spiders off tree trunks to spray painting trees in augmented reality. Each game design produces different types of three-dimensional data, meaning the design determines what kind of forest information is collected.
Testing these applications in Finland and Japan showed that, while the technology transferred well, people engaged differently across cultural contexts, highlighting that tools cannot simply be exported without adaptation.
How can the results of your doctoral research be utilised in practice?
Forest planners could use gamification approaches to reach wider audiences than traditional consultation allows. The geocaching approach offers a low-cost way to gather public preferences using platforms people already enjoy, whilst the AR applications show how smartphone users might contribute technical forest measurements through play. Beyond public engagement, gamified approaches could also enhance tools used by forest professionals, making repetitive measurement tasks more engaging and improving data quality.
But this also highlights an important design responsibility: if these tools primarily attract digitally literate, urban, educated users, could they deepen inequalities in who gets a say in forest decisions? And as the forest sector digitalises, what about less technically experienced forest users who risk being left behind? These are questions this research begins to explore, and are being examined further by the PlayFair Forest Network and related research networks.
What are the key research methods and materials used in your doctoral research?
The research used a progressive approach across three studies. The first study embedded forest preference surveys within geocaching trails at four sites across Finland, collecting nearly 1,000 responses from over 3,000 cache visits by players already out exploring forests for fun.
The second study developed custom augmented reality applications for LiDAR-equipped smartphones, turning forest scanning into four different playful experiences. Participants scanned forests while vacuuming virtual spiders, spray painting trees, retrieving space probes with a UFO, or watching point clouds form in real time.
The third study deployed these applications in urban forests in both Finland and Japan, comparing how cultural context, participant background, and environmental conditions influenced engagement and data quality. The data were analysed using a combination of spatial analysis, content analysis of written responses, point cloud quality metrics, and cross-cultural comparison.
Is there something else about your doctoral dissertation you would like to share in the press release?
This research was conducted as part of the UNITE Flagship at the University of Eastern Finland, which explores human–forest–machine interplay and develops new approaches to connecting people with forest environments and decision-making: https://uniteflagship.fi/about/The researcher also co-leads the PlayFair Forest Network, a collaboration examining whether playful digital technologies can promote equitable participation in forest governance, or whether they risk leaving certain communities behind: https://sites.uef.fi/playfairforest/The work also connects to wider European research on augmented reality in forestry (https://arif-action.eu/) and innovative tools for urban and community forestry (https://urbanforestrynetwork.eu/). More broadly, it contributes to ongoing discussions about how digital technologies are reshaping human relationships with forests and forest decision-making.
The doctoral dissertation of Philip Chambers, MSc (Agr & For) entitled Gamified Data Collection for Participative Forest Planning will be examined at the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology, Joensuu campus. The opponent will be Professor Markus Holopainen, University of Helsinki, and the custos will be Professor Teppo Hujala, University of Eastern Finland. Language of the public defence is English.
For further information, please contact:
Philip Chambers, [email protected], tel. 050 430 5421
