YuSU UNESCO Chair turns 15 years

11 December is a milestone date for Yugra State University.

15 years ago, a UNESCO Chair was established at our university. It came into existence thanks to a cooperation agreement between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Yugra State University. The UNESCO Chair was established at the research and education centre "Environmental Dynamics and Global Climate Change". The continuous head of the Chair is Professor Elena Dmitrievna Lapshina, Doctor of Biological Sciences.

The opening of the Chair was followed by many years of preparatory work on the implementation of international projects in the field of global ecology and environmental protection. In 2010, the station "Mukhrino" of the UNESCO Chair of YuSU joined the International Network for Environmental Monitoring of Northern Regions SCANNET, and in 2011 the INTERACT project "International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic" was supported. Since 2015, the station has been participating in the programme "PEEX - Paneurasian Experiment", which brings together more than 100 research institutes and organisations in Europe, Russia and China. Youth laboratories are also being created on the basis of the department, and young specialists are involved in solving environmental problems.

"Today, the UNESCO Chair carries out organisational, scientific, educational and information-publishing activities in the field of ecology, and YUSU is an important participant in the international climate agenda. Scientists conduct year-round research in the field of regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and absorption by bog ecosystems, biodiversity, carbon stocks in peats, soils and living biomass, establishing the biospheric role of peatlands in maintaining the gas composition of the atmosphere," emphasised Roman Kuchin, Rector of YuSU.