National University of Life and the Environmental Sciences, Ukraine

The National University of Life and Environmental Sciences (Kyiv, Ukraine) is among the ten top universities in Ukraine. It was founded in 1898 and currently is dealing with agriculture, natural resources, and food quality. NULES consists of 3 educational and research institutes, 13 faculties, 1 subsidiary (South), 14 regional departments, 5 research stations and educational and research farms, 7 research institutes and 10 regional colleges. About 3,100 academic staff (396 Dr.Sc. and Professors and 1479 PhDs and Associate Professors) provide quality education, science, innovation, industry, information, and extension services. More than 26,000 undergraduate and 600 PhD students are enrolled at NULES, studying, and researching contemporary scientific issues related to life and the environment. Nowadays, citizens from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Poland, Slovakia, the USA, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the Czech Republic study at NULES.

NULES conducts numerous international education and research projects and programmes under ERASMUS +, TEMPUS, UN FAO, FP6, FP7, Visegrad Fund, International Masters Programme and TOPAS. Moreover, NULES is involved in international collaboration with more than 130 universities and research institutions in 40 partner countries, being a member of 20 international organisations such as FAO, GCHERA, UNESCO, EUROSCIENCE, NACEE, VUA, etc.

NULES has extensive experience with TEMPUS projects. Three of these dealt with environmental protection and soil quality. A newly developed curriculum for the Master’s programme in Ecology and Environmental Protection was a result of ENAGRA. NULES is currently participating in two Jean Monnet Programmes: EU Environmental Policy and Law and EU Food Safety Control.

The proposed project concerns the Faculty of Plant Protection, Biotechnology and Ecology (PPBE), one of the leading faculties in biotechnology and climate change education which was founded in 1944 and consists of 8 departments.

Over the past years, PPBE and NULES have organised and participated in roundtables with representatives of the Ukrainian government and parliament on agricultural development, environmental protection, and climate change mitigation strategies. NULES academic policy focused on mainstreaming climate change in agricultural education. The proposed focus areas are as follows: land management, forestry diversification, carbon sequestration, bioenergy, and circular economy. Through the professional meetings/training organised in NULES, the institution became a platform for stakeholders in biomass production on marginal lands with conversion to bioenergy. The research laboratories at the PPBE are equipped with modest equipment and have the necessary space to conduct experiments and have 2 incubators, a still, refrigerators, dissecting and compound microscopes, a centrifuge, computers, photocopiers, a spectrophotometer, a steriliser, a plant growth incubator, soil probes, sieves and accessories, etc.