Visiting Fellow
Forest analyses for industrial uses, wood harvesting and processing, marketing forest and wood products
Phone: 0410 511 549
Fax: + 61 (0)2 6125 0746
E-mail: kwgroves@bigpond.net.au

From 1952 to 1963 Ken worked as a Harvesting and Sawmill Manager in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during which time, apart from his normal duties, he was co-opted to a three-man research team investigating the relationships between silvicultural treatments in pine plantations and the volumetric and grade recovery of sawn timber.

From 1963 to 1967 he was in charge of research into hardwood logging and timber supply economics with the Forestry and Timber Bureau in Australia. During this time, he was also responsible for investigating occupational health and safety in the harvesting and sawmilling sectors.

From 1967-1989, he lectured at the ANU Department of Forestry in Forest Harvesting and Engineering but subsequently, and additionally, at various times, in Wood Science; Wood Conversion and Utilisation; and Production Economics. During his tenure at ANU he conducted numerous research and consultancy projects, including supervising over 20 postgraduate and fellowship research programs. In 1989, he worked in Malawi for two years as a Forest and Wood Production Economist.

In 1992 he joined Margules Groome Pöyry (now Jaakko Pöyry Consulting) as a Senior Consultant and from then until April 1999 worked continuously in a range of projects with major emphases on resource analyses for specified end uses; feasibility studies of various wood conversion processes; and in marketing, strategic development and investment programs.

He has been a free-lance consultant since April 1999 and a Visiting Fellow in the School of Resources, Environment and Society at the Australian National University since 2002. He has further developed a useful role in providing the link between growing wood and harvesting and processing.

Professional Activities

He has written, or helped to write as part of a team, over 100 consultancy reports for private, government and international bodies entailing field work in many countries including Australia, Malawi, Italy, Norway, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Laos and Vietnam.

Academic Highlights

Selected Publications

Balfas J, Groves K W, and Evans P D, 1993: Bonding surface modified karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) and jarrah (E. marginata) with resorcinol formaldehyde, Holz als Roh- und Werkstoff 5 pp 253-259.

Groves K W, 1990: "Seasoning and Preservation", Ch 22 in Trees for Rural Australia, ed Cremer K, Inkata Press.

Alexiou P N and Groves K W, 1990: Effect of pre-steaming on moisture gradients, drying stresses and sets, and face checking in regrowth blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis Sm.), Wood Sc. Tech.

Groves K W and Chivuya A, 1989: "Fuelwood Evaluation" Ch 16 in Trees for the Tropics, ed Boland D, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

Wingate-Hill R and Groves KW 1988: Compression dewatering of green wood, APPITA 41(2).

Groves K W, Pearn G J and Cunningham R B 1987: Predicting logging truck travel times and estimating costs of log haulage using models, Aust. For. 50(1).

Groves K W and Banana A Y, 1987: The effect of weathering on the microstructure of radiata pine, Jour. Inst. Wood Sc. 10(5).

Wingate-Hill R and Groves KW, Compression dewatering of green wood, 41st Annual APPITA General Conference.