Summer School on Urban and Mountain Ecosystems was successfully completed at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS)

  • 22 July 2019

The Summer school was held on July 07-21, 2019 within the framework of Erasmus+ Projects. It was organized by the University of Salzburg in cooperation with SUNRAISE, the Society for Urban Ecology (SURE) and Austrian and international partners: Ore of the Alps UNESCO Global Geopark and National park Berchtesgaden.

The first part of the summer school, from July 8 to July 14 offered a number of highly interactive lectures designed to familiarize participants with the study area. The students had a splendid opportunity to explore human and environmental challenges and finding solutions for these by the example of the Alps, Europe's highest mountain system. After traning on research methodology, the students were divided into small groups to solve research questions in Salzburg guided by the Salzburg and SUNRAISE-Team. The topics for the group research were urban agriculture/urban gardening, urban trees, citizen science – visualization of nature. Each group created the project poster and showed presentation with research results obtained for further discussion with the rest of the participants of the Summer School. At the end of the Summer School, all the students were awarded with the Summer School Certificates.

Having attended the event, the participants enhanced their knowledge in Mountain Ecosystems management, received relatively new information on Urban Ecology and could compare approaches in sustainable development and ecological services applied by the home country and Austria. This experience is surely to make significant contribution to their research activities in the future.

Marina Rubleva, MSc student of the SibFU School of Ecology and Geography shared her impressions about the Summer School: «The Summer School on Urban Ecology in Salzburg (Austria) became a new discovery for me. The organizers from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Salzburg arranged both fascinating excursions to the national park of Germany and the Geo park in Austria, as well as interesting lectures on urban ecosystems. We found out new approaches to the study of biodiversity in urban environment and were able to apply this knowledge into practice. Moreover, I managed to make new friends from different parts of the world and to improve my level of English proficiency. I am very thankful to the project SUNRAISE, Siberian Federal University and the University of Salzburg for the opportunity to take part in the international Summer school!»

 

Julia Evseeva, MSc student of the SibFU School of Ecology and Geography also left her feedback on the Event: «This is my second international school and the first time abroad. We stayed in Salzburg and walked around Vienna before departure. I was really impressed to see that there are no homeless pets and streets are very clean with lots of trees around. Most of the studies were devoted to ecological services for green spaces but I do not think that I have learnt something completely new for myself (thanks to our teachers). We had great excursions to the National Park and the Geo Park. All in all, I gained lots of positive impressions and I am thankful to the University for giving me such an opportunity».