News in Press-centre

The new FEFU Laboratory of Climate Research—led by the Professor of the University of Tuscia (Italy), the Nobel Peace Prize winner Riccardo Valentini—will deal with the development of modern environmental policy in the Asia Pacific Region on the basis of a systematic analysis of global patterns and regional monitoring. On February 29th the outstanding Italian scholar and FEFU President Sergey Ivanets signed the joint work agreement and then told a media briefing on the prospects of the new scientific field.

"Climate change has become all the more important and discussed problem in the world, but in the Far East they are still inactive in their involvement into this area. FEFU is ready to include the issue in its research agenda and collaboration with Prof. Riccardo Valentini offers great opportunity in this respect", said Sergey Ivanets. "We will be able to join the global research network, which he heads, to lay the groundwork in the form of an international laboratory, to attract the professor to conduct breakthrough research and to work with our students, postgraduate and postdoctoral students. All these objectives correspond to the priorities within the FEFU Competitiveness Enhancement Program under the 5top100 Project".

Speaking about the new lab, Riccardo Valentini stressed that the scheduled research would enable Far Eastern Federal University to advance significantly in the international academic community and to become a leader in the climate change studies in the Asia Pacific Region.

"Here we shall focus on building a team that will examine both risks and opportunities arising from climate change. The scope of our research will also be the natural ecosystems of the Far East and the economic outlook posed by climate change, e.g. in agriculture", said Riccardo Valentini. "All this will allow FEFU to become a leading center for the study of climate and to contribute significantly to the development of a modern environmental policy in the Asia Pacific Region".

At first, the staff of the FEFU School of Natural Sciences will work at the new lab under the supervision of the visiting scholar. Sergey Ivanets did not rule out that the research unit would become a multidisciplinary one and would bring together the staff from various schools of the University. According to the President, the lab will be created on Russky Island campus, but it will use field stations located, in particular, in Terneysky District of Primorsky Krai. Riccardo Valentini, the FEFU Vice President for Research and Innovation Alexey Tshe and university researchers will start for the north of the region to inspect the research sites on March 1st.

After signing the employment contract, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Riccardo Valentini gave an open lecture as an employee of Far Eastern Federal University. Its main themes were the global climate change, environmental policy in the world, sustainable development of the regions and socio-economic effects of climate change.

Besides, Riccardo Valentini is the Professor of the University of Tuscia (Italy) and the Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC). In 2007 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is engaged in the risk assessment of global climate change caused by man-made factors. The scientists received the prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change". Professor Valentini has also won other prestigious international awards: Norbert Gerbier-MUMM, European Research Council, European Ecological Federation, Marx Planck, Ernst Haeckel, and the title of Europe Best Ecologist 2015.