From 4-8 May 2020 scientists of the Smart Urban Nature Laboratory (RUDN University) took part in the respected EGU General Assembly 2020 in the online format. Instead of the annual life General Assembly in Vienna, the European Geosciences Union (EGU) hosted EGU2020: Sharing Geoscience Online. The largest virtual geoscience meeting is a pilot project that brought together thousands of scientists from around the world onto one platform to discuss their latest findings. The event provides a unique opportunity for researchers, experts and journalists to interact to each other, exchange with new developments and find out about the latest discoveries in a wide variety of topic areas ranging from water resources, natural hazards and climate to space and planetary science missions. Moreover, some of the participants were also selected to rule the specific sections and to convene other researchers.
Theory and practice cooperate for sustainable urban development
On April 29, 2020 a round-table “Urban Ecology. Theory for practice” was held in an online format. The main topic was focused on the interaction of theorists in urban ecology and practitioners in urban development and landscape architecture. The participants of the round table – researchers, architects and designers of urban environment – presented their projects and discussed the features and prospects of communication between researchers of urban ecosystems and specialists of Russian urban planning and improvement. The discussion focused on the impact of environmental data of modern cities on the work of urban decision makers. The event was organized by Smart Urban Nature Laboratory of RUDN University and the Guild of Landscape Engineers (Moscow).
Science in self-isolation: climatologist from SUN Lab held a public online lecture on climate and coronavirus
April 17, 2020 a virtual meeting with Pavel Konstantinov, a climatologist, scientist at the Smart Urban Nature Laboratory (RUDN University), as well as the Executive Secretary of Russian Pan-Eurasian Experiment office (PEEX in Moscow State University) took place. The online lecture gathered about 700 viewers. In a conversation about climate, Pavel paid special attention to the current situation with coronavirus. And also shared a useful life hack how to determine the weather for tomorrow with an accuracy of 72% in two minutes.
SunLab scientists give recommendations for urban gardening
An analysis of urban gardens contaminated with lead and arsenic shows that traditional soil cleaning methods are ineffective. Gardening can be safe if regularly check the land with express monitoring devices and plant vegetables on raised beds. Research results were published in the Science of the Total Environment journal. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation.
Tree Talkers will monitor Moscow trees
In 2020, the Moscow Government will begin monitoring urban trees using instruments created by RUDN scientists stated the head of the Department of Nature Management and Environmental Protection of the city of Moscow Anton Kulbachevsky at the 20th anniversary meeting of the Board of the department.
SUNLab Research Seminar Reveals New Areas for Collaboration
SUNLab Research Seminar was held on March 4, 2020. Invited professors from Germany and the Netherlands spoke about their current research and areas of cooperation.
President of the International Union of Soil Scientists (IUSS) Takeshi Kosaki visited SUNLab
On February 6, 2020, Takeshi Kosaki, President of the International Union of Soil Scientists (IUSS), professor at Aichi University (Japan) visited the Agrarian and Technological Institute of RUDN University.
This is his second visit. In 2017, professor Kosaki in cooperation with the Department of Landscape Design and Sustainable Ecosystems organized for the first time in Russia the SUITMA-9 Congress (Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, Mining and Military Areas).
The first Urban Climate Arctic Winter School in Russia trained young «climate guardians»
From January 28 to February 4, 2020, the first in Russia Urban Climate Arctic Winter School-2020 (UCAWS-2020) was held on the Kola Peninsula in the far northwest of Russia which lies almost completely inside the Arctic Circle. The school concerns the problems of urban climatology in high latitudes. The event was organized with the assistance of the PEEX program, the Laboratory of Smart Technologies for Sustainable City Development (RUDN University) and the Council of Young Scientists of the Faculty of Geography (Moscow State University). The winter school gathered undergraduates and graduate students of RUDN University and Moscow State University who are specializing in the field of urban meteorology.
Leading scientists of the world discuss ways to solve problems in urban soils and sustainable development of urban ecosystems
October 11, the 4th annual Urban Soils: Biodiversity Development Symposium was held at Floyd Bennet Field (Brooklyn, New York, USA). It was the first event at the New York Urban Soils Weekend.
Among the organizers of the Symposium was RUDN University together with the Institute of Urban Soils of New York and the US National Park Service. Among the co-organizers are New York City University, the New York City Hall, the US Department of Agriculture, and the New York City Soil and Water Conservation Authority.
RUDN discusses promising projects and advanced technologies in the field of urban environmental monitoring
September 5-7, a series of events was held on the basis of the Department of Landscaping and Sustainable Ecosystems of RUDN ATI, dedicated to advanced technologies for monitoring green spaces in urban environments. Employees of the department, invited foreign researchers, as well as representatives of companies in the field of eco-monitoring presented their research projects and practical achievements in assessing the state of urban green infrastructure, shared their experience with monitoring devices, discussed the data and outlined the main prospects for the development of international cooperation in this area.