Tribute to Dr Graham Woodgate

Before entering academia, Graham trained as a forester with the UK Forestry Commission and he maintained a keen interest in trees, forests and forest-dependent people throughout his career. He gained a PhD in political ecology, from Wye College, undertaking field research among the Mazahua people of Central Mexico and, during the 1990s, coordinated a British Council Higher Education Link Programme between UK universities and Mexican farming systems research institutions. Whilst at Wye and later Imperial College, Graham became involved with postgraduate distance learning programmes in sustainable rural development.

Graham joined the Institute of Latin American Studies as an Associate Fellow in 2002, and then took a part-time post at the Institute in 2004, before moving to UCL in 2012 as a founder member of the Institute of the Americas. In addition to his academic work, Graham managed a woodland smallholding and carried out forest management certification audits against FSC Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship. He retired from UCL in 2021.

Graham was fascinated by all aspects of nature-society relations and was also involved in the emerging field of agroecology, a transdisciplinary intellectual endeavour that is particularly strongly rooted in the Americas and encompasses scientific research, agricultural practice, and agrarian social movements.

Graham was a remarkable and dedicated teacher and supervisor, a tremendously supportive colleague, and will be deeply missed by everyone who knew him.

Details of a UCL memorial will follow in due course. Graham’s family have set up a remembrance/memorial page for anyone wanting to share a memory or express their condolences: www.remembr.com/graham.woodgate  Feel free to spread the word.