ET-IUFRO is the mailing list for the IUFRO-ECOTECH’94 Electronic Workshop (held Sept 1994) on “Barriers to Cross-disciplinary Research and Technology Transfer in Wood for Energy in the Tropics”. We hope that such a meeting will help us to make recommendations for research and technology transfer strategies in this field. This electronic workshop will form the basis for a face-to face-meeting on the issue in the near future. We anticipate that this workshop will consist of 8 to 10 papers and related discussions from a wide geographical distribution in the tropics and subtropics. Papers should address the theme outlined above by discussing your perspectives on barriers to interdisciplinary research and to technology transfer and/or your suggestions and experiences in overcoming the problems.