Pretoria Professor Honoured in Sweden for a Lifetime of Studying Trees

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An achievement well-earned by a South African researcher who has spent a lifetime finding ways to keep the planet’s lungs (our forests) healthy.

Pretoria, South Africa (09 October 2025) – A South African scientist, Professor Michael Wingfield, has just been honoured in Sweden with an honorary doctorate for a lifetime spent protecting forests.

Not in some abstract ‘hug a tree’ way (not that there’s anything wrong with that, go and give them a squeeze!), but in the gritty, scientific trenches. He’s spent a lifetime figuring out how to stop the pests and diseases that threaten the trees we all rely on for air, water, shade, and life itself.

Without trees, we’d be in serious trouble.

For more than 40 years, Wingfield’s been tracking the ‘invisible enemies’ of forests, like pests and fungal diseases that quietly eat away at ecosystems. His research has taken him from Pretoria all the way to Minnesota, and right into the International Union for Forest Research Organisations, a network of more than 15,000 scientists working to protect the world’s trees.

Humble as the world’s greatest minds generally are, he’s the first to say this isn’t about him.

“It was never about me alone,” he explained. “This reflects the support of my family, my students, my colleagues, and a global community of scientists.”

Even though he owes this achievement to everyone who has walked the journey alongside him, Wingfield’s work is not to be underestimated.

He’s built whole programmes and institutes where people could come together to solve big problems, like the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme in the ’90s, and later the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) at the University of Pretoria, known across the world for its breakthroughs in plant and forest health, and many of his former students are now leading researchers themselves.

Through all of it, he’s never lost sight of why this work matters.

“We totally underestimate the importance of plant health. People forget that trees give us water and clean air. Without trees, we would all be dead.”

It’s hard not to be inspired. Here’s a man who has dedicated his career to protecting forests and, in the process, has helped put South African science on the world map.

He also has a message for young researchers.

“The sky is the limit. There are so many opportunities to excel in research and science. Don’t underestimate them; they are everywhere if you’re willing to look for them.”

We should feel proud knowing that there are South Africans leading the charge in protecting the world’s forests. It’s honest, real work.