THE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

From the history of the department

The department of Natural Resource Management is the newest unit in the structure of the faculty. It was founded by professor V. I. Fedotov in 2000 on the "fragments" of two departments - the department of Land Hydrology, closed in 1981, and the department of Anthropogenic Landscapes, which became the base for the new structure. Professor V.I. Fedotov became the first head of the department. Thanks to his efforts, in 2001 a new specialization “Hydrology and Water Management” was opened in the department. Soon a new progress was made. In the  academic year of 2003-2004 a permanent educational internship on water-balance researches was organized for students in the Valdai Branch of the State Hydrological Institute. Business ties were organised  with the Department of Hydrology of the Moscow State University. In 2006 was the first graduation of the new generation of hydrogeologists after 20-year break. First grants were awarded from the Ministry of Education and Science through the program of fundamental researches “The Universities of Russia”.
In 2010 associate professor V. D. Krasov became the head of the department of Natural Resource Management. Since 2012 associate professor L.M. Akimov is leading the department of Natural Resource Management.

Profile of graduates

In the 2011-12 academic year the department of Natural Resource Management switched to the two-tier system of education with bachelor and master degrees. Students do the bachelor degree in  ecology and natural resource management (022000) and specialize in Natural Resource Management (the period of study is 4 years). The master degree students do the two-year  program in environmental monitoring. On top of that, on the 2nd and 5th  years students still do specialist’s degree (the period of study is 5 years) in natural resource management and specialize in hydrology and water management. Within the framework of the above-mentioned forms of training, students receive a deep knowledge of hydrometry; river runoff and hydrological forecasts; hydrophysics; water balance management; hydraulics; water-supply engineering; stream dynamics and river mechanics; methods of statistical treatment; water-management design; water engineering surveys; hydrological and environmental bases of water management; environmental regulation; water supply conservation. Students solidify gained knowledge in analytical, geoinformatics, and hydrological laboratories.

Career opportunities

Due to the amount of disciplines that students of the department of Land Hydrology and Water Management study, they are able to work for survey and research institutes of transport and construction profiles; for State Committee for Hydrometeorology and State Committee for Nature Protection; for Federal Rescue Service. The graduates can pursue a PhD, or work in departments of management and marketing, in environmental services. in the region. Monitoring of graduates employment shows that about 70 percent of former students are in demand on the labour market. This is due to the urgent need to ensure that government agencies and private firms hire specialists that have complex of geographical, hydrological, environmental. and technical knowledge and that they are able to apply them in the present-day practice of natural resource management and environmental engineering. The professional department staff ensures a high level of training in natural resource management that meets the standards of the best educational institutions of Russia, Europe and the United States.

Fields of Research

The employees of the department are actively involved in research activities, which are connected with hydrological and environmental aspects of resource management of river runoff (both in theory and when applied to the territory of the Central Black Earth Region and its oblasts, on the basin of the upper Don and on the other regions of Russia and the former Soviet Union countries); cataloguing and bioindication of water objects; studying of hydrological and ecological aspects of the drainage system in the buildings constructed on thoroughfares.