Professor Mike Wingfield research is focused in the broad area of forest biotechnology. More specifically, his research group studies various aspects of insect pests and pathogens, particularly those that are important to the forestry industries of South Africa and other countries of the world. In particular, they are interested in those insects and pathogens that cause damage and diseases of trees, degrade timber, or that are potentially valuable in various aspects of the pulping process and in the production of industrially valuable compounds. 

Professor Wingfield’s research program falls under the umbrella of two major programs that are linked to defined stakeholders and bases of financial support. One is the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP), a cooperative venture between the University of Pretoria, all forestry companies in South Africa,  Forestry South Africa (FSA), and the Government Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF).  The second major program  is the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) - National Research Foundation (NRF)  Centre of Excellence in Plant Health Biotechnology (CPHB), which was one of the first six CoE’s to be selected on merit by the DSI for funding in 2004.

Professor Wingfield is involved in a wide range of research projects both in South Africa and elsewhere in the world. These include those linked to the TPCP and CPHB (see the TPCP and CPHB sections of this web site) and funded by the South African Forestry Industry together with various associated government grants, international projects including for example, those with the Chinese, Norwegian, Australian and Swedish Governments, as well as projects with forestry companies in Latin America and Southeast Asia. He has been and remains deeply involved in the management and leadership of various scientific bodies and institutions in Africa and globally. Of these activities, his long-standing role in the activities of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) is dominant.  He was President in 2014 until October 2019 and serves as Immediate Past President (until 2024). IUFRO is one of the oldest and largest Scientific Unions in the world, representing between 15 and 20,000 forestry researchers linked to approximately 650 member organisations in more than 120 countries.