Environmental Clinic unveiled at St Petersburg University

Especially for this occasion, a number of features had been prepared for the guests, including a lecture course and master classes, along with excursions and quests around the University Botanical Garden, where it was possible to become acquainted with a special stand "The Museum of Recyclable Materials". In addition, the final voting to choose a symbol for the St Petersburg University Environmental Clinic was held as part of the opening ceremony.

During this event, Marina Lavrikova, Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities at St Petersburg University, noted that many students at the University are concerned about the environment. ‘At one time, it was our students who took the initiative in the separate collection of waste. At that moment, the University administration enthusiastically supported the students’ undertaking, since we had always understood that it was important to think about Nature and the environment.’

Our Environmental Clinic has already gone through the testing period, and it has a number of successful projects in its portfolio. This is what gives us the opportunity to hold the official opening ceremony today and to recount all of our achievements.

Marina Lavrikova, Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities at St Petersburg University

Kirill Chistiakov, Director of the Institute of Earth Sciences and Vice-President of the Russian Geographical Society, stressed that the opening of the St Petersburg University Environmental Clinic is part of a series of events that form a legacy of continuously refreshed traditions from one generation to the next among scholars and researchers at the University. ‘It should be noted that work associated with the interaction between man and nature developed intensively at St Petersburg University back in the 19th century,’ Professor Chistiakov stated. ‘For example, the entire school of Russian Soil Science, founded by Vasily Dokuchaev, was focused on the interrelationship between man and nature. His Nizhny Novgorod, Poltava, and Special Steppe expeditions, along with other undertakings, created a sound ecological tradition at our University.’

The word "ecology" was coined in 1866 by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel. It is noteworthy that his closest assistant was the famous Russian ethnographer, anthropologist, biologist and traveller Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay, after whom the Russian Geographical Society named one of its awards.

Maiia Rusakova, Head of the working group on the development of the clinical approach at St Petersburg University and also Head of the University Sociological Clinic, assessed the University as a unique mother lode of new ideas and practices.

‘St Petersburg University encompasses all of the best aspects of a classical education, but, at the same time, is not afraid of experimenting. It is not by chance that the unique clinical approach to education is deeply embedded here at the University,’ Ms Rusakova pointed out. ‘Each clinic is inimitable, but they all work according to a single principle: students can receive practical skills during the time of their studies. In many fields this happens already during the first year of their bachelor’s studies.’

It is important for any graduate to have proven work experience, which is why each of the University clinics is based on relationships with employers, who can set challenges for these future professionals. They can be public sector customers, commercial enterprises or, of course, St Petersburg University itself.

Our students are the University’s most amazing resource. With their enthusiasm and their unconventional approach to solving the challenges that are put in front of them, they are a boon to scholarship, the actual project that they work on and education, propelling them all forward.

Maiia Rusakova, Head of the St Petersburg University Sociological Clinic

Irina Fedorova is Head of the St Petersburg University Environmental Clinic and Acting Head of the Department of Geo-Ecology and Environmental Management. According to her, two years ago, when the clinic was just beginning to develop, many did not understand how such a format would work and how it would help to solve complex environmental issues. ‘Now, residents of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, and different organisations as well, turn to us. Our students try to solve the environmental problems at hand, using all of their potential and providing unconventional approaches to seemingly simple tasks,’ Ms Fedorova noted. ‘We have had no dearth of requests. The number of environmental issues is currently growing, not only in Russia but also in the world. People have already begun to understand that the eco-friendly lifestyle is not only alluring but beneficial as well.’

Congratulations were offered by Ivan Serebritsky, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Natural Resource Management, Environmental Protection and Ecological Safety; Katerina Spirova, the founder of Tasis OOO, one of the Environmental Clinic’s partners; Anastasiia Zhilina, Acting Deputy Head of the Department for Work with St Petersburg University Faddeev Academic Gymnasium Pupils of the Department for Youth Affairs; Olga Lavochkina, the coordinator of Separate Collection, an association in the sphere of ecology and environmental protection; Mariia Dorokhina, Director of the Coaching Centre at St Petersburg University’s Graduate School of Management; and students of the University’s Environmental Clinic.

At the Environmental Clinic, undergraduate and postgraduate students undergo practical training in a unique "clinical format", which enables them to solve problems and carry out projects and activities at the request of external customers and subdivisions of St Petersburg University. Orders are submitted both by residents of St Petersburg and the surrounding region and by government agencies and organisations. All of them are potential employers for the future environmentalists and geoscientists.

At the request of residents of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, the shallow Lake Syuveyarvi in the Vsevolozhsky District‎ was studied, and an independent geo-ecological survey of water bodies in the Southwestern District of St Petersburg was conducted. The Clinic’s portfolio also includes the development of a nature trail in the Novgorod Region at the request of Zhivaia Ryba (Live Fish) OOO and a leaf composting project at the St Petersburg University Botanical Garden.

Apart from engineering and consulting work, participants in environmental projects at the Clinic are involved in outreach activities, through which they popularise the natural sciences and promote environmental awareness. Students and teachers who take part in the work of the Clinic conduct public surveys, hold master classes and make presentations.