Data and Software Ecosystems Green Infrastructure

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.

Collaboration Ecosystems Education

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.

Ecosystems Education Events Science

SUN Lab invites to the international conference “InterCarto. InterGIS 27. Geoinformation support of sustainable development of territories”

SUN Lab is among the organizers of the international conference “InterCarto. InterGIS 27. Geoinformation support of sustainable development of territories”. The conference will be held at Apatity (Murmansk region, Russia) and Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), August 21-27, 2021.

Download Information Letter (in English)

Download Information Letter (in Russian)

Climate Ecosystems Science Soils

The biological component of microparticles in big cities: SUN Lab is developing research on improving air quality in urban conditions

Airborne fine dust particles (FD) are recognized as one of the most harmful pollutants to human health. The size of fine dust determines their ability to penetrate the human body, and particles less than 10 microns in size are recognized as the most dangerous. At the same time, the causes of FD toxicity are still insufficiently studied. For example, the relationship between mortality from COVID-19 and the concentration of FD in the air was shown. However, it is still not clear whether fine dust is a direct vector carrier of the virus or only exacerbates the susceptibility of the human body to the virus.

Ecosystem Services Education Green Infrastructure

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.

Collaboration Ecosystem Services Ecosystems Green Infrastructure Science Soils

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.

Collaboration Science Soils

SUN Lab Scientists took part in Urban Soils Symposium

Experts of the Smart Urban Nature laboratory Vyacheslav Vasenev and Maria Korneikova made presentations in two different sessions of the 5th Annual Urban Soil Symposium “Soils: The Living Fabric of Health, 2020”. The event was organized by the Institute of Urban Soils of New York, RUDN University and TreePeople. Traditionally, the symposium is held in New York (USA) on the basis of the Institute of Urban Soils, but this year, amid the pandemic, the event took the format of a virtual meeting using a number of interactive video conferencing platforms.

Collaboration Ecosystems Green Infrastructure Science

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.

Ecosystem Services Ecosystems Education Green Infrastructure Science

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.

Collaboration Ecosystem Services Green Infrastructure Research Seminars Science

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.

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