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.
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.
Riccardo Valentini gave a lecture to managers from 100 Russian cities
Prof. Riccardo Valentini, the head of Smart Urban Nature Lab opened the Module 6: Urban ecology of an educational program Master of Public Administration by giving a lecture “Urban Health and Green Infrastructures”.
Participants of this program, organized by SKOLKOVO Moscow School of Management, are 500 managers from 100 largest cities in Russia: mayors, deputy mayors, deputy heads of the region, chief architects. The main objective of the program is to to form leaders who will act as drivers of the development of Russian cities.
LAWN project partners update webinar 2020
By Dr. Diana Dushkova and Prof. Maria Ignatieva
On December 17, an online webinar of the LAWN 2020 project partners was organized by Dr. Diana Dushkova, Helmholtz Center for environmental research – UFZ Leipzig, Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology; Geography Department of Humboldt University Berlin, Germany and Prof. Dr. Maria Ignatieva, School of Design, University of Western Australia.
Tree Talkers network expanded with a new location in Moscow
The SUN Lab’s team in collaboration with experts from Wood expertise center “Zdorovy Les” set up new devices in Gorky Park, one of the biggest and most attended parks in Moscow city center.
Before installation, experts from Zdorovy Les conducted a local research in the park. They found out 16 poplars of the same age and size but quite different in trunk condition – most of them were strongly decayed. Visually the state of the trees was rather different from their potential sustainability and trunk health. So these trees came up as the spots for 16 Tree Talkers set up.
Smart Urban Nature Lab took part in the NAUKA0+ Science Festival
XV Russian Science Festival NAUKA0+ took place from October, 9-21 in Moscow and many other regions of Russia. The largest Russian popular science project designed to establish a dialogue between science and society, educating schoolchildren, students and adults about the latest achievements of science in the field of physics, biology and medicine, ecology, humanities, etc. SUN Lab is an active participant in this event. Every year our scientists take part in lectures and workshops, both at the RUDN University and in the external events of the festival.
Scientists discussed the use of smart technologies in monitoring green spaces
On September 30, 2020, an international scientific seminar “Monitoring urban green infrastructures” was organized under the umbrella of the Department of Landscape Design and Sustainable Ecosystems of ATI RUDN University. The event was held in an online format and was devoted to a number of issues in the field of monitoring green infrastructure in cities using IoT technologies.
Experts and participants discussed topics such as express methods for assessing the physiological state of green spaces, the influence of environmental factors on the state of plants, timely diagnosis of plant diseases and the development of methods for plant protection. Among the participants of the seminar are experts from the Smart Urban Nature laboratory Vyacheslav Vasenev, Alexey Yaroslavtsev, Vasily Brykov, Yuri Dvornikov and Viktor Matasov as well as partners from the Russian Research Institute of Phytopathology, N.V. Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden of RAS and other organizations.
International Scientific Seminar “Monitoring of Urban Green Infrastructure”
SUN Lab of RUDN University invites to the international scientific seminar “Monitoring of urban green infrastructure”, which will be held online on the Microsoft Teams platform on September 30. The meeting starts at 15:30 Moscow time. The working language is English.
The seminar will focus on several issues in the field of monitoring of urban green infrastructure using IoT technologies. Experts and participants will discuss such topics as express methods for assessing the physiological state of green infrastructure, the influence of environmental factors on the state of plants, timely diagnosis of plant diseases and the development of methods for plant protection.
SUN Lab in cooperation with Landscape Engineering Guild assessed ecosystem services for a new residential complex in Moscow
Smart Urban Nature lab together with the Landscape Engineering Guild, has implemented a project to assess ecosystem services for one of Moscow’s residential complexes.
Moscow architectural bureau UTRO, whose specialists developed the concept of improvement for the residential complex “Metropolia”, strove for a reasonable balance between the purpose of the object, the needs of people and the environment. Thus, the main goal in developing the concept was to bring nature to the city center to create a comfortable living environment. With the proximity of major roads, the impact of the urban heat island, and the increasing number of extreme weather events associated with climate change, the regulatory functions of green infrastructure seem to be the most significant.
SUN Lab scientists have published the first results of the Tree assessment on Bolotnaya Square (Moscow)
Paper “IoT Monitoring of Urban Tree Ecosystem Services: Possibilities and Challenges” was published in the Special Issue Assessing, Valuing and Mapping Ecosystem Services of Forests journal and describes an opportunity of applying IoT technology not only to measure tree functionality through fluxes of water and carbon, but also to establish a smart urban green infrastructure operational system for management.
The paper presents results of a research project developed by SUN Lab scientists (RUDN University), in cooperation with researchers from University of Palermo, University of Tuscia, Campania University “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Research and Innovation Centre, Timiryazev Russian State Agrarian University with the support of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF).