International research team including SUN Lab’ scientists interviewed citizens of Moscow (Russia) and Perth (Australia) to find out what role urban green spaces played for them during the COVID-19 pandemic. It turned out that the vast majority of respondents in both cities considered contact with nature to be extremely important for mental well-being, and many of them went for walks in their free time, despite the restrictions. The results of the research, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, are published in the journal Sustainability.
RECONECT survey on innovative strategies for co-creation, upscaling and amplification of NBS
SUN Lab invites you to participate in RECONECT survey on innovative strategies for co-creation, upscaling and amplification of NBS, organized by our collegues Diana Dushkova and Christian Kuhlicke.
Please click here to start.
SUN Lab was presented on roundtable “Green and Blue Urban Infrastructure Innovation for Northern Eurasia”
The roundtable “Green and Blue Urban Infrastructure Innovation for Northern Eurasia” took place April 19-20 in Saint Petersburg. During the event there were presented projects related to green and blue infrastructure (GBI) in Russian cities. Speakers representing academic and non-academic institutions, shared their relevant GBI experience and reflections to share. Also the factors of success and failures of such innovation projects given a variety of biophysical and socioeconomic contexts across the country were disscussed.
ESCOLAR International School
People’s Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) hereby invites students, postgraduate students, teachers and specialists to take part in «ESCOLAR» International school for entrants to the master programs that will be held on the premises of the Agrarian and Technological Institute of the RUDN University from April 15 to May 15, 2021.
Elvira Dovletyarova in collaboration with colleagues from Germany and Chile got a scientific publication in GAIA
In March 2021, SUN lab team’s scientific merit fund was replenished with an article “Catholic religious identity, prosocial and pro-environmental behaviors, and connectedness to nature in Chile” which was published in a highly rated journal indexed in the Scopus and WoS databases (SJR Q1) GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society.
Smart Urban Nature portal concept: in search of ideas and solutions
Last Saturday, the SUN Lab team held the first strategy session in the format of a team brainstorming session.
We discussed the concept of the Smart Urban Nature portal. This is a portal that will allow us to collect, analyze, deliver and present information about the state of urban ecosystems. Such a multifunctional open-access platform, in our opinion, will be a useful tool for different categories of users. During our session we tried to identifine these categories.
Strengthening Russian Italian cooperation: Italian Science Attaché visited Agrarian and Technological Institute
On Tuesday, March 30, 2021, Science Attaché of the Italian Embassy in Moscow, Mr. Enrico Brunioli visited Agrarian and Technological Institute of RUDN University. He was invited by Elvira Dovletyarova, the Director of ATI, for an informal “welcome” breakfast. The meeting provided all participants with a chance to discuss relations between the Institute and Italian partner organizations in the spheres of science and education. In fact, both Mr. Brunioli and the ATI team primarily focused on the current state of relations and possible prospects of improving it.
As part of ATI team, the meeting was attended by Deputy Director for International Affairs Vladislav Plyushchikov, Deputy Director of the Department of Landscape Design and Sustainable Ecosystems, Associate Professor Vyacheslav Vasenev, and Olga Gavrichkova, Research Fellow at the Center for Mathematical Modeling and Design of Sustainable Ecosystems.
SUN Lab celebrates the International Day of Forests by setting up TreeTalkers in Rostov-on-Don
When we drink a glass of water, write in a notebook, take medicine for a fever or build a house, we do not always make the connection with forests. And yet, these and many other aspects of our lives are linked to forests in one way or another.
Forest sustainable management and their use of resources are key to combating climate change, and to contributing to the prosperity and well-being of current and future generations. Forests also play a crucial role in poverty alleviation and in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet despite all of these priceless ecological, economic, social and health benefits, global deforestation continues at an alarming rate.
SUN Lab researcher in collaboration with a Chilean colleague examined soils under copper toxicity
In February 2021, a collaboration of Chilean and russian scientists represented by Elvira Dovletyarova, the Head of Agrarian Technological Institute (RUDN University) and Alexandr Neaman, professor of Institute of Agrarian Engineering at Southern University of Chili got their joint scientific article published in the highly rated Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition (SJR Q1). The research was supported by the RUDN University Strategic Academic Leadership Program and the FONDECYT international project.
Raising a new generation of international professionals: how SUN Lab supports young scientists in urban ecosystem study
Today the SUN Lab team is glad to recall its participation in an international project in support of young scientists in urban studies – TAURUS (Training Capacities in Agriculture and Urban Rural Interactions and Sustainable development of megacities). Starting in 2017, the project was launched in pursuit of providing international support for students who can gain new professional skills necessary for the sustainable development of large urban areas.