CIFOR is looking for a new Director General who can lead research that shows how to use tropical forests to address the challenges of poverty, disease, environmental destruction, corruption, discrimination, and violence. She or he will inspire researchers in and outside CIFOR to muster evidence and arguments that shape policy agendas and change peoples’ lives.

That is what I’ve tried to do since coming to CIFOR a decade ago, and becoming director in 2001. A year from now it will be someone else’s turn; someone who believes forests are important and who can make people realize why. That could be you or someone you know.

The job is fascinating, thrilling, and rewarding (and, yes, a wee bit tiring). Above all else, it provides an opportunity to do something meaningful in a world that sorely needs it. Ideas can be very powerful forces for positive change, and research produces ideas.

As a global research center linked to governments, NGOs, communities, companies, donors, and scientists, CIFOR is well-positioned to promote new thinking about forests.

If you are good at bringing people together and motivating them and have a vision about how forests and research can help people live better and fuller lives, now is the time to apply. This could become a defining moment in your life. Please also think about friends and colleagues that ought to hear about this, and pass on the message. The sooner you do it, the better.