Representatives of the Department of Bioenergy, Bioinformatics, and Ecobiotechnology of the FBT of Igor Sikorsky KPI took part in the Summer Academy of the Bavarian State Office for Environmental Protection, which was held from July 21 to August 1 this year.
Associate Professors Marina Kozar and I, Veronika Zhukova, were invited to this event, which took place in Hof (Germany, Bavaria). The prerequisite for receiving the invitation was our cooperation with the Institute of Sustainable Water Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Hof, together with Professor Larisa Sablyi from the Department. In addition to us, specialists from PJSC AK “Kyivvodokanal”, the Basin Water Resources Management of the Western Bug and San Rivers, WWF-Ukraine, the National University of Water Management and Nature Resources Use, as well as specialists from Kosovo and Syria participated in the Summer Academy.
The aim of the two-week educational program was to familiarize specialists in the field of water treatment with Bavaria's environmental management system, the experience of German companies in the field of strategic development, equipment, quality control, new technologies, as well as to promote professional cooperation between specialists in the field in Ukraine and Bavaria. The program combined a theoretical course with practical implementation issues covering a wide range of topics: environmental protection development in Germany, water resource management in Bavaria, water and environmental law, implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, waste management system, restoration of Bavarian rivers, remediation of contaminated industrial sites, circular economy in Bavaria, wastewater treatment requirements under the EU Directive, sustainable water supply requirements, and drinking water hygiene requirements.
As part of the Summer Academy, participants visited governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in water resource management; municipal utilities, public and private water treatment plants and wastewater treatment facilities; a pump manufacturing company; glass, paper, and organic waste processing companies, and closed industrial sites undergoing soil remediation in Bavaria. This approach seems to provide a deeper understanding of the real challenges and opportunities in the field of environmental protection.
The participation of Ukrainian representatives in such events provides excellent opportunities for exchanging experience and developing international relations on issues of protection, rational use, and reproduction of water resources, protection from the harmful effects of water, adaptation to climate change, and the development of biotechnologies for organic waste processing and wastewater treatment.