April 10, 2017

International Research Center for Cold Regions Environment and Engineering Officially Opened in Lanzhou

The International Research Center for Asian Cold Regions Environment and Engineering was officially opened in Lanzhou, China on April 3, 2017. The center is a joint initiative between the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIER) and the Melnikov Permafrost Institute (MPI) that aims to promote international and interdisciplinary collaboration in geocryology, environmental research, material science and engineering. It will bring together the capabilities and expertise of the partner institutions to address challenges facing cold regions development in Asia. Its first projects will include impact assessment of changing permafrost in China, Russia and Mongolia on major engineered infrastructures, training programs for doctoral students at SKLFSE, and joint fieldtrips in Siberia and interior Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The partners are also to discuss mapping criteria to be used as guidelines for a future Asian permafrost mapping program.

The opening ceremony at NIER was attended by a delegation from Yakutsk, including Dr. Mikhail Lebedev, Chair of the RAS Yakutian Scientific Center, Dr. Mikhail Zhelezniak, MPI Director, Dr. Grigorii Savvinov, Director of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North, North-Eastern Federal University, Dr. Valentin Spektor, Head of the Laboratory of General Geocryology at MPI and Ms. Lilia Prokopieva, International Relations Manager, MPI. The delegation also visited the School of Civil Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) to discuss opportunities for establishing a research center based at HIT focusing on cold regions engineering. Photo: Co-Directors of IRC-ACEE Wu Qingbai, SLKFSE and Mikhail Zhelezniak, MPI.