News in Press-centre

Students and young scientists of Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) will conduct Arctic research at the Northeast Science Station, Chersky Town, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The beginning of the cooperation was discussed at the meeting by Kirill Golokhvast, FEFU Vice President for Research, with Sergey Zimov, the station manager, a well-known ecologist, and the most highly-cited Russian scientist. In the long term, an Arctic campus may also appear here for the work of the university's research groups.

The Northeast Science Station is located in the far northeast of Yakutia and is one of the three largest Arctic stations in the world. Its staff study global warming and restore Pleistocene landscapes that existed in the northern hemisphere during the last glacial period. The well-known Pleistocene Park is located near the station.

“Our goal is to help involve the vast territories of the Arctic into the fold of civilization as a veritable natural reservoir with huge biological and mineral resource potential for the future generations and as a buffer system that mitigates global climate change,” said Sergey Zimov. “This will be the focus of joint research that we are planning together with FEFU.”

At the station, students and young scientists of the university will study permafrost melting; greenhouse gas emissions; hydrates conservation; biodiversity; land, atmosphere and surrounding seas pollution; and other climatic, biological and environmental issues. According to Kirill Golokhvast, in the future, FEFU will be able to open its own base at the station and establish an Arctic campus for the university's research group activities.

“We have cared about the Arctic for a long time, but at a distance. Today, this is undoubtedly the point of Russia's growth, and the development of the Northern Sea Route is a priority project on a national scale,” said the Vice President. “FEFU has no reason not to use the huge potential of cooperation with a world-class scientific center—the Northeast Science Station and Sergey A. Zimov personally.”

FEFU is one of the leaders in the field of Arctic research. The Arctic Center successfully works at the School of Engineering, which provides scientific support for new projects on the shelf of the northern seas. Annually the university hosts the winter Ice Mechanics School, where Russian and international students work with natural ice, study the features of construction of ice-class vessels and engineering structures.

At the same time, Far Eastern Federal University has become the center of research on socio-political problems of the Arctic region. The work has been carried out in association with the Joint Institute for Marginal Seas and Arctic Studies which was established by FEFU School of Law in partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China).