Caucasian Biodiversity Research Center
On October 26-30, the Faculty of Life Sciences of the Ilia Chavchavadze State University hosted an international working meeting "Possibilities of Study and Conservation of Caucasian Relict Biodiversity."
Participants of the conference represented the Ilia Chavchavadze State University, University of Idaho (USA), University of Hamburg (Germany), University of Jena (Germany) and Zoological Museum, Bonn (Germany). American and German guests gave public lectures on new approaches and biodiversity research methods, analysis of genetic data, perspectives of international scientific research in the Caucasian ecoregion.
Graduate and PhD students from the Faculty of Life Sciences presented plans of future research and talked about weak and strong sides of graduate and PhD researches. At the end of the meeting a document stating readiness to support establishment of a Caucasian research center was signed. The center will be responsible for coordination of scientific research of Caucasian biodiversity. It will aid local and international organizations and researchers to plan and carry out high profile scientific research.
Major research topic of the Faculty of Life Sciences at the Ilia Chavchavadze State University is Caucasian biodiversity. As a result of an unstudied Caucasian biodiversity and a limited number of experts, it is very difficult to carry out serious research without international cooperation. During the recent years the Faculty realized about ten research projects, most of them thanks to international cooperation.