PROTOCOL of the First Joint Research Team Workshop Continental Business Hotel, Odesa, Ukraine (Hybrid event) July 8th – 9th, 2021

The First Joint Research Team Workshop within project “Establishment of Learning Network for the consolidation effort of joint environmental control and monitoring in the Black Sea Basin 2” LeNetEco 2, Project Number: BSB-1088 in the framework of JOP “Black Sea Basin 2014-2020” was held in the period July 8-9, 2021 in Odesa (Ukraine) in a hybrid way (face-to-face and online via ZOOM). The workshop agenda was distributed for 2 working days.

The working language of the meeting was English.

DAY 1 – July 8^th, 2021

The first day of the First Joint Research Team Workshop in Odesa (Ukraine) started on July 8th, 2021 in the conference room of the Continental Business Hotel, 5, Derybasivska Street, Odesa, Ukraine. The total number of participants was 28 persons, of which: 16 experts of the joint research team member, 12 project management group members.

Opening of the workshop. Introduction of the agenda.

Mr. Lucian Tilea, Project Manager of Lead Beneficiary, welcomes the participants and introduces the agenda of the meeting emphasising the main points of the meeting.

Introduction of LeNetEco2 Project

Viorel Babaian, project coordinator of the Project Beneficiary 2 ASDEI “Lower Danube Euroregion” made a brief presentation the LeNetEco2 project. In his presentation he informed the participants about main and specific objectives of the project, main activities, results and indicators to be achieved during project implementation.

Short presentation of experts

Overview and status of the activities intercorrelated with JRT involvement

Mikhail Lebid, representative of Project Beneficiary 3, made the short presentation of the experts of the Joint Research Team from each partner countries. Also, Mikhail Lebid made a presentation on the overview and status of the activities intercorrelated with Joint Research Team involvement in terms of project activities implementation and achieved deliverables of GA Management, GA T1 Creation of the Internet Platform “LeNetEco”, GA T3 Joint Environmental Research and GA C Communication.

LeNetEco platform - structure and basic principles of interaction of blocks 

Valerii Lebid, Specialist of profile organizations-laboratories Project Beneficiary 2, made a presentation the main aspects of the platform, structure of the platform and the basic principles of interaction of blocks. Also, there were presented the main sections of the platform: educational section, communication section, monitoring section, content management system, as well as the description of the input data for the platform and user interface requirements.

Structure of the educational programs and trainings

Valerii Logvinov, Expert in curriculum development Project Beneficiary 3 during the workshop presented the main points regarding the structure of the educational programs and trainings which are going to take place in the framework of the project according to the workplan. The presentation started with the description of the target group which is directly linked to the conducting the training courses. Mr. Logvinov emphasised on the overall goal and the specific objectives of the trainings program. Also, there were presented draft of the training program, including the main topics, training plan. The speaker underlined that all the aspects regarding the training program have to be the same for all project partners.

The ecological concept of the LeNetEco platform – development of e-Map of environmental monitoring

Vasiutynska Kateryna, Expert in monitoring methodology Project Beneficiary 2, presented the ecological part of the platform, namely the development of the ecological aspects within LeNetEco platform. The main aspects of the forming the environmental monitoring, geographical information system (GIS), public environmental monitoring, environmental data, indicators and so on were underlined during the presentation. Mrs. Vasiutynska emphasised the importance of the ecological results in the framework of the project.

Development of the training program - main features of training courses of environmental monitoring program (proposal)

Daniela Toneva, Expert in curriculum development Project Beneficiary 4 conducted the presentation which was focused on main features of training courses of environmental monitoring program. It was proposed that the development of the training program will include the such elements as target groups, structure of training groups, training duration (by target groups), preliminary work / preparation. A detailed structure of training

Vision and remarks by PB4 regarding the e-Map of environmental monitoring structure

Nikola Todorov, Specialist of profile organizations-laboratories Project Beneficiary 4 conducted the presentation in the view of electronic map of environmental monitoring structure. Mr. Todorov specified that some data about chemical and ecological status for the development of e-Map could the obtained from official authorities, for example in Bulgaria: Water Basin Directorate, department of Black Sea. Also, Mr. Todorov proposed the information that we can provide and the information we can accept.

Vision and remarks by PB6 Ecological Counseling Center Cahul

Crina Patrichi, Specialist of profile organizations-laboratories Project Beneficiary 6, presented the ecological situation of the hydrographic network in the Republic of Moldova. During the presentation Mrs. Patrichi described the hydrographic network in the Republic of Moldova including the ecological situation of natural lakes, artificial basins and rivers. Also, there were described the main types of impact within the Prut River basin as well as the main types of pollution.

Vision and remarks by LB Danubius University of Galati

Daniela Laura Buruiană, Expert in curriculum development Lead Beneficiary, started the presentation emphasising the importance of the Danube in the Black Sea Basin. Mrs. Buruiană described the overall ecological situation the Black Sea Basin and the types of the main pollution in the Danube River. Also, Mrs. Buruiană propose the table of contents for training courses.

Vision and remarks by PB5 Association of Cross Border Cooperation “Lower Danube Euroregion”

Florentina-Natalia Budescu, Expert in curriculum development Project Beneficiary 5, presented the ecological situation of the Lower Danube Euroregion – as a strategical region of the Black Sea Basin. Mrs. Budescu emphasised on importance of the cooperation between local authorities, non-governmental organisations and private sector in order to create a common environment monitoring system.

In conclusion during the meting in was very important that all the members of the Joint Research Team got in touch with each other, changed the contacts and agreed upon separately meeting in specified subgroups. All the information from presentations made during the 1^st day of the JRT workshop will helpful for future development of the LeNetEco platform.

DAY 2 – July 9^th, 2021

The second day of the First Joint Research Team Workshop in Odesa (Ukraine) started on July 9th, 2021 in the conference room of the Continental Business Hotel, 5, Derybasivska Street, Odesa, Ukraine. The total number of participants was 28 persons, of which: 16 experts of the joint research team member, 12 project management group members.

The meeting started with the Choice of the Head and a Deputy head of the Joint research team. All the JRT members agreed that the Head of the JRT to be Mr. Valerii Logvinov from PB3 Odessa National Polytechnic University, Ukraine and the deputy head of JRT to be Daniela Toneva from PB4 University “Prof. D-r Assen Zlatarov”, Bulgaria.

The next topic of the discussion was about the methods of the exchanging information and conversation between the JRT subgroups. As we all know the Joint research team consisted from 3 type of experts form each partner country: expert in curriculum development, expert in monitoring methodology and specialist of profile organisations-laboratories. So, JRT members decided to create separate SKYPE groups for each subgroups of experts in order to start the discussions more specifically and technically on each topic. Also, JRT members decided to develop a work plan of the JRT by the end of July 2021.

So, JRT experts decided to develop a schedule of expert SKYPE meetings by the end of July 2021.

In terms of the Group of activities T2 Development of the training program, the JRT experts started the discussion. The structure of training groups proposed by Bulgarian partner was considered. BG partner proposed 5 pilot groups for the training courses:

PG1 - schools -Pupils, aged 15-18 years;

PG2 – Higher education and research – students;

PG3 – Local public authority; environmentalists;

PG4 – Interest groups including NGOs - media and NGOs;

PG5 - Others - researchers, fishermen, hunters, etc.

After the discussion JRT decided to define the 5 pilot groups as was the proposal of the experts from Bulgaria partner. Also, JRT experts decided to have the duration of the training courses as follows: PG1 and PG2 – at least 1 or 2 days training and for PG3, PG4 and PG5 – at least 2 days.

The main topics of the training courses have to be defined in common until 21.07.2021.

The methods of the training will be discussed at the separate meeting of the experts in curriculum development.

In terms of the GA T1 Creation of the Internet Platform “LeNetEco” JRT discussed about the environmental monitoring, including the indicators that have to be gathered in order to be uploaded to the e-map. Mrs. Vasiutynska mentioned that the indicators have to be separated as river indicators and sea indicators. Mr. Todorov specified that it is necessary to include the environmental topics as the observation of the polluted areas to the methodology of the training courses.

In the framework of the same group of activity the JTR experts discussed about the principles of the using the electronic monitoring map. Mr. Valerii Lebid, Specialist of profile organizations-laboratories Project Beneficiary 2, presented the methods of using the e-map. He proposed to all the partners to fill in the table its vision to be implemented in each section of the platform. Also, he proposed to all to fill in the table with user interface requirements.

At the final of the meeting the Joint Research Team members together with the project staff discussed about the possible dates for conducting the Second Joint Research Team Workshop which will be hosted by PB6 Ecological Counseling Center Cahul. So, the period for conduction of the Second Joint Research Team Workshop was set as end of September-beginning of October 2021.