ASU Researchers Are Getting Ready for Joint Academic Activities with Their Swiss Colleagues

The University of Geneva (UNIGE) has been an official partner of Astrakhan State University since 2014. From that time till 2017, ASU students were given an opportunity to participate in a grant programme on student exchange and study 1-2 semesters at UNIGE.

Besides, the cooperation implied teaching visits of Astrakhan and Swiss professors, which allowed to coordinate academic activities in biotechnology, environmental protection and ecobiotechnology.

In June 2018, the Foundation “Leading House for Swiss Science and Technology Cooperation with Russia and the CIS Region” supported a joint project of the ASU Research Laboratory of Biotechnologies and the UNIGE Department F.-A. Forel on creation of an educational network for sustainable water resources.

The participants will actively interact for development of joint educational, scientific and cultural initiatives with foundations and organizations that aim at conservation and monitoring of valuable endangered biological objects and water environment. Besides, it is planned to organize expeditions and round-table discussions both in Astrakhan and in Geneva.

One of the main goals for the researchers is to make this project long-term. Therefore, this project and the following ones will allow to draw attention of international and Russian communities to the problem of conservation of the beluga and other valuable endemics of the Caspian Sea.

the partners are holding virtual classes via a videoconference system in order to arrange organizational issues on conducting joint academic activities in Astrakhan in July 2019 and in Geneva in October 2019.