1st Belarusian Geographic Congress to be hosted by BSU with UNESCO Chair participation
The Belarusian Geographic Congress will be held at the leading national university in April for the first time with the active participation of the UNESCO Chair in Science Education of the Belarusian State University’s Faculty of Geography and Geoinformatics, BSU press service reports
“The International Forum is aimed at uniting the efforts of geographers and geologists from different countries to solve urgent problems in ecology, environmental management and sustainable development,” informed the press service. “The event will be dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Faculty and the 70th anniversary of the Belarusian Geographic Society and will be organised in a hybrid format. Scientists, students, professors and staff of relevant organisations from Belarus, China and the CIS countries are invited to participate in the Congress.”
The forum – scheduled to be held on April 9th-13th – is planned to hold plenary and breakout sessions, as well as four round tables and a dialogue platform. Experts will discuss modern problems of geoecology, causes and consequences of the urbanisation process, ways of sustainable management of biodiversity and biological resources, evolution of the natural environment, prospects of digitalisation in cartography and remote sensing of the Earth, anthropogenic impact on ecosystems, use of GIS-technology and others. Moreover, the Congress will host a master class on the basics of socio-economic space in the context of globalisation and regionalisation and a cartographic quiz for students.
As informed, a special contribution to the organisation of the Congress was made by the UNESCO Chair in Science Education of the Faculty of Geography and Geoinformatics of BSU. Its mission is to unite and consolidate the international scientific community for joint search and elaboration of solutions on the main directions of sustainable development. The Chair is responsible for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 15 on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all, as well as on environmental protection, ecosystem conservation and restoration. Hence, the staff of the unit participated in the development of the Congressional agenda in order to focus the participants’ capacity on working together to shape strategic dialogue and co-operation in achieving common global goals.
The results of the conference will be used to prepare a collection of scientific materials, which will be published in the BSU electronic library.
The Congress is organised by the Faculty of Geography and Geoinformatics of BSU.
The UNESCO Chair in Science Education was established in 2011 at the Faculty of Chemistry of BSU within the framework of the global programme UNITWIN (University Twinning and Networking Programme), implemented by UNESCO and aimed at the creation and development of university chairs in education, science, culture and communication. Since 2023, the unit has been working at the Faculty of Geography and Geoinformatics of BSU and assisting in mainstreaming science education in the context of sustainable development, strengthening international interaction and scientific co-operation between BSU departments, developing interdisciplinary projects, creating and implementing research programmes in the environmental protection, etc. Concerned teaching staff from different faculties and institutes of the university acts as employees of the UNESCO Chair. The work of the Chair is supervised by the National Commission for UNESCO.
