I Want to Come to Work in Russia

Tatyana Dyukova, a student of the University of Eastern Finland and a future Master of Forestry Sciences, has undertaken a two months internship in the Komi Republic. The program of the internship was arranged in such a way that within eight weeks Tatyana had a chance to learn about the work of quite different participants of the forestry relations – from the forestry higher educational institution up to the industrial company. Tatyana passed some part of the internship in the Silver Taiga Foundation and we asked her to tell about her impressions and acquired skills.

– Tatyana, at first – some words about yourself.

– I’m from Krasnoyarsk, it’s my home town. And there I graduated from the Siberian State Technological University with a bachelor’s degree in “Forest Science”. Having learnt about the international program Cross-Border University in Forestry, I took part in the contest and got a chance to continue my education in the University of Eastern Finland. This University is the coordinator of the international program, and its partners are the Russian higher educational institutions – Petrozavodsk State University, Saint-Petersburg State Forest Technical University and Moscow State Forest University. The program develops partnership in the field of the forest education aiming to promote in practical terms environmentally and socially sustainable utilization of natural resources. There are just six of us in the group of 2014-2015 years of study – three of us are from Russia, one – from England, one – from Finland and one – from China. According to the program, you have to undertake an obligatory 8-weeks internship either in Finland or in Russia. Last year my friend, a girl from Finland, passed her internship in Komi, at OJSC “Mondi Syktyvkar” and she recommended me to write a letter to Mondi. I received an answer from Denis Popov, the Head of forest certification and environment department. This is how I came to Komi and I am very happy about it.

– And why are you so happy?

– Unfortunately, before this internship I had a very vague idea about what I will do after I get a profession. And the main thing was that I could not decide what I would like to do. May be science? Two months in Komi determined my choice: I understood that I would be a practician. I find very interesting such areas of practical activities as forestry intensification, forest management certification and bioenergetics. I’m glad that I had a real internship and did not just spent my time putting the documents from one place to another, what, unfortunately, sometimes happens with other students-interns. Thanks to Denis Popov I had a very extensive, logical and diverse schedule of my internship. Natalya Mikhaylovna Sedusova, the Head of the international department of the Syktyvkar Forest Institute, also helped me a lot to organize my internship. I’ve been working for two weeks at Mondi Syktyvkar, at the Ministry of Industry, at LLC “Tekhkarta” and in the Silver Taiga Foundation. First of all, I had the opportunity to look at the situation from different perspectives. Secondly, I did not work at some artificial tasks, but I was directly involved in the work of the organizations. For example, at the Ministry of Industry I was involved in updating the Ministry’s website, its bioenergetics section. At “Tekhkarta” I received practical skills in laying out sample areas. At Mondi I worked in the certification and environment department. Together with Denis Popov and Yury Anatolyevich Pautov I went to select demonstration routes for the future courses. With the ecologists of the Silver Taiga I worked in the field in the Udora District – we took samples of benthos and plankton in the forest rivers to study the impact of the loggings on the river ecosystems. Besides, I significantly extended my knowledge in geoinformational technologies, thanks to the GIS-specialist of the Silver Taiga Sasha Borovlyov with whom we processed the field materials. Everywhere there was a real practical work, nowhere did people fob me off and I was immediately involved in the work. That is why the internship turned out to be very useful for me and I’ve got only positive impressions.

– Tanya, you are from a forest region yourself, and during your study, you probably learnt about the work of the forest segment somewhere else. What is, in your opinion, typical in particular for Komi?

– The first thing that strikes the eye is that here all parties of the forest sector cooperate with each other – forest business, science, Ministry specialists, and non-governmental organizations… They all know each other (and it’s not the same in other places!) and they work together in the most vital forestry areas. I also noticed that here the work is conducted with the local population – I mean not only the Silver Taiga, which intentionally promotes this aspect, but the forest business as well, and this is mainly Mondi Syktyvkar. Communications and cooperation are very important in any matter, and the forestry is not an exception. It seems to me, that people in Komi understand this.

I am thankful to everybody who took an interest in the organization of my internship. Now I know what I would like to do after I finish my study. And I know that I want to come to work in Russia.

The photos are made by Sergey Davydov and Alexander Borovlyov