LETI International Workshop Highlights Solutions To The Global Problem Of Microplastic Pollution
LETI together with universities from Spain and India organized a workshop presenting experience and technologies for detecting microplastics in water bodies and combating them.
On April 14, an international workshop on combating the problem of microplastics in a global context was held. The event was organized by the Department of Environmental Protection Engineering and the International Projects Office of LETI with the participation of the Indian Lovely Professional University (LPU) and the Spanish Cadiz University (UCA). 96 students from different countries and majors participated in the workshop.
“The workshop brought together everyone who cares about one of the world’s major environmental problems – microplastics. At the online meeting, speakers from Russia, Spain, and India explained the danger of plastic in freshwater and agricultural soils and talked about ways to solve this problem. Combining the expertise of three universities with rich scientific potential located in three important locations on the Eurasian continent could serve as a basis for joint research projects.”
Irina Vezhenkova, Deputy Head of the Department of Environmental Protection Engineering at LETI
Professor Dr. Rahul Singh from the Faculty of Bioengineering and Biological Sciences at LPU gave an opening lecture titled “Microplastics an emerging contaminant: Challenges to analysis and mitigation.” He spoke about the difficulties of identifying this hidden danger in aquatic environments and presented a research program on water bodies in the state of Punjab being conducted by the Indian university.
The Russian program for detecting microplastics in the waters of the Neva River and the Gulf of Finland, conducted by employees and students of the Department of Environmental Protection Engineering, was presented by Vladа Ivanova, a 4th-year student of the Faculty of Information Measurement and Biotechnical Systems at LETI. The topic of the presentation was the impact of microplastics on ecosystems and ways to mitigate it.
Professor Rosio Rodriguez Barroso from the University of Cadiz talked about a comprehensive program for identifying various types of microplastics in different environments – from drinking water to wastewater and sediment. UCA has the latest laboratory facilities that allow them to identify the extent of penetration of this artificial substance into natural systems and organisms.
After the lectures, an express quiz was held with active discussions of the answers to understand how well students of different majors understood the importance of this problem and ways to solve it. “This was the first time I took part in such an event, and I was afraid that I would not be able to answer technical questions, but the competence and professionalism of the lecturers from three universities helped me to cope with the task. Now I will participate in such workshops more often!” – shared her impressions Olesya Maltseva, a 1st-year master’s student at the Faculty of Information Measurement and Biotechnical Systems at LETI.
Cooperation between LETI and the University of Cadiz began in 2016, and the first joint project was Spanish language courses for students and faculty members of First Electrotechnical. In the following years, the universities conducted exchange programs for students, and UCA lecturers participated in the recording of LETI’s online course “Reuse and Recycling of Components of Solar Panels.”
ETU “LETI” and Lovely Professional University began their interaction in July 2022, when the First Electrotechnical initiated a meeting of representatives from 25 Indian and 6 St. Petersburg universities to discuss cooperation in educational and scientific fields.