Environmental Studies
General information
Since 1995, the Department of Environmental Studies has been training specialists in the field of Ecology and Environmental Protection, using the experience of the leading universities of Europe and America. The founder of the Department Professor Vitaliy Pavlovich Zamostyan, Doctor of Medical Sciences, became its first Head.
The Master program of the Department gives the students profound knowledge in the basic areas of environmental science and environmental management with the use of mathematical modeling and geoinformation technologies. The program provides the basis for further research in two areas: environmental science and environmental policy. The Department also propose postgraduate and doctoral programs in Environmental Studies and Ecology.
The scientific work of the Department is concentrated at the Center of Ecosystem Research, Climate Change and Sustainable Development. The main directions of its scientific activity are:
- research of energy flows in natural ecosystems of different types
- measuring of the impact of recreational loads on natural ecosystems
- studies of the migration of heavy metals and selenium in ecosystems
- working out the indicators for sustainable development of the system of institutions of higher education
The Department has a Research and Training Complex for Monitoring and Research of Ecosystems, organized in cooperation with Kholodnyi Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Our doctoral programs were opened and are functioning on the basis of this Complex. Since 2004 a new interdisciplinary strategic direction of scientific research is developing there – the ecological economy.
The department cooperates with a number of leading scientific institutions of Ukraine:
- Institute of Hydrobiology
- Institute of Botany
- Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas
- Institute of Ecotoxicology and Hygiene
- Institute of Medicine of Labour
- Karadah and Polissia Nature Reserves
- Carpathian National Nature Park
- Carpathian Biosphere Reserve
- Ukrainian Center for Land and Resources Management
- Chornobyl State Enterprise Ecocentre
- and others
Thanks to this cooperation there is a number of courses and practicums for students, ongoing research for their coursework and diploma thesises.
The Department also participates in the United Nations-supported program (UNSP); joins a distance learning course in public and private sector partnerships for environmental issues together with Yale University (USA) and fifteen other universities of the World; conducts an international science project with the University of Oklahoma, USA.
Alumni of the Department often continue their studies abroad: they compete for study grants and receive education at US universities with the help of Maski and Fulbright programs, visit Central European University (Hungary), participate in the new MESPOM that includes two academic years in three out of four universities: Manchester (Great Britain), Lund (Sweden), Aegensky (Greece) and Central European (Hungary).
Studies
Laboratory for Ecological Research of Urban Systems
The urgency of the problems of urban spaces in cities is caused by their growth - both in space and in the number of people living in these areas. The most negative factors affecting people and their health in cities include: air pollution, drinking water quality, reduction of green areas, rising of air temperature, transport problems, psychological discomfort and many other common or personal factors.
To study of these problems - their investigation and elaboration of methods and devices to minimize them - there was established a research laboratory for environmental research of urban systems at the Department of Ecology, Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Academy at the end of 2018.
The task of the laboratory is to provide research programs for the Department of Ecology and participate in joint research with national and international partners at the level of educational institutions, commercial and industrial organizations, public or private. One of the laboratory work areas has been the study of air dust pollution in the city.
As part of our study, the following tasks were set: to investigate the level of dusting of PM10 and PM2.5 particles at different heights from earth surface using a dust analyzer, to develop innovative models of dust collectors of different shapes and choose the most efficient one.
Photo 1
The developed models (Photo 1) were cylindrical in shape with a volume of 1 liter and had the following cutouts (holes): vertical, horizontal and, as a control, open at the top of the cylinder. This control dust collector made it possible to determine the amount of dust that falls on the horizontal plane under the same conditions for all studied models (Photo 2).
Photo 2
Dust collectors were installed near the carriageway for 60 minutes (Photo 3). All developed models of dust collectors were installed near the highway at an equal distance from the roadway at fixed heights h = 0.25 m, h = 0.5 m and 0.50 m from each other.
Photo 3
It is planned to continue the search for improved forms of dust collectors (Photo 4) to achieve maximum efficiency depending on the height above the ground and the distance from roads.
Photo 4
According to research results, the following was established: a) at different heights and distances from the roadway the concentration of dust particles is distributed depending on the particle size; b) the highest concentration of solid dispersed particles of large size is observed at distances from 0.5 to 1 m and height up to 1 m from the roadway; c) the concentration of dust in the air is least affected by air temperature, the significant factors are humidity and wind speed; d) if the difference between a low, medium and high traffic congestion differs in the number of units of cars on these streets, the level of air dust increases several times with the increase in the number of cars.
According to the research results, a model of a street device for catching dust from motor vehicles was developed. The device model is a column (cylinder), 0.5 m high, which has holes along the perimeter, with partitions inside, with the tank for accumulation of solid particles / dust at the bottom (Photo. 5).
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Photo 5 |
Photo 6 |
Photo 7 |
When developing the model, we tried to make it easy to use and manufacture, therefore the model is similar to an anti-parking column (Photo 6). Today, anti-park poles / limiters are widely used in the world. More than ten thousand have been installed in Kyiv alone last year.
The model is the same anti-parking column which not only safe for pedestrians, but also plays an ecological role, catching dust particles from vehicles and improves air quality. This device will not replace the cleaning of city streets from dust, but its ability to work autonomously, 24/7 and indefinitely in time will contribute to improving the environmental condition of the city.
In May 2020, the State Enterprise Ukrainian Institute of Intellectual Property (Ukrpatent) issued a patent for the Utility Model №142114 for DEVICE FOR CATCHING DUST ON CITY STREETS (Photo 7) [1].
The laboratory continues its research and has already prepared patent documents for another useful model for reducing dust pollution in the urban environment. This year, the Laboratory for Environmental Research of Urban Systems Kyiv-Mohyla Academy has partcipated in the national competition on biomimicry and became one of the winners of the competition, which was conducted by the UNDP Laboratory of Innovative Development in partnership with the Institute of Biomimicry (USA) [2].
1. Спеціалізована БД «Винаходи (корисні моделі) в Україні» [Електронний ресурс] - Режим доступу: https://base.uipv.org/searchINV/search.php?action=viewdetails&IdClaim=268416
2. Оголошено фіналістів національного відбору на Міжнародний конкурс з пошуку інноваційних рішень за логікою біомімікрії [Електронний ресурс] - Режим доступу: