Floating University Program
Educating the next generation of marine researchers and engineers
Floating University Program
Educating the next generation of marine researchers and engineers
Our mission
The mission of the Floating University Program is to provide hands-on, practical training for students at sea, equipping them with the skills and experience needed to excel in marine science and engineering while contributing to vital ocean research and sustainable development.
Our goals
Engage motivated students
Involve them in fundamental and applied research
Empower the marine scientific community with fresh talent
Brief history
The development of the Floating University as a unique educational technology began by building on years of experience conducting fieldwork for students of Russian universities on research vessels. Drawing on this experience, in 1991, Lomonosov Moscow State University initiated the international program "Floating University: Training-through-Research (TTR)", which was supported by UNESCO (since 1993), gained widespread recognition worldwide and the status of an official program of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission since 1996 (read more). Over the years, while advancing the scientific and educational technology under the name "Floating University," various projects focused on youth engagement on research vessels have been implemented at universities and research centers across the Russian Federation. In 2022, the efforts of various organizations in Russia were united into a single nationwide Floating University Program which is presented here. The renewed Program once again received support from UNESCO, becoming an initiative from the Russian Federation within the framework of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science. Since 2023, the Coordination Center “Floating University”, opened at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, is responsible for the implementation of the Program.
Coordination Center “Floating University”
- Natalia StepanovaPhD, director
Oceanographer, specialist in the thermohaline structure and water mass formation of the Baltic Sea - Liliya KhatmullinaPhD, partner and mentor relations
Oceanographer specializing in laboratory and field studies of the vertical transport and distribution of microplastics in the water column - Daria Sobaevastudent affairs
PhD student and research engineer studying the impact of large-scale sea surface temperature anomalies on the dynamics of the mid-troposphere and stratosphere
How the Program works
Our impact
- 2 300
studentsparticipated in the Winter Scientific Schools - 49
partner organisationsincluding Universities, Scientific centers, and Industry have united efforts to train talented youth - 10
expeditonscomplex expeditions to the Arctic ocean, Baltic sea and Russian Far East seas - 141
graduatesand about 100 will graduate this year - 90
scientific topicshave been prepared by mentors and are tackled by students during internships and expeditions of 2024 - 80% graduates stay in scienceaccording to the 2022 survey
Key publications of students and mentors of the Program
Myslenkov S. A., Platonov V. S., Silvestrova K. P., Dobrolyubov S. A. Increase in Storm Activity in the Kara Sea from 1979 to 2019: Numerical Simulation Data. // Doklady Earth Sciences. 2021. Vol. 498. P. 502-508. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X2106012X
Lobus N.V., Glushchenko A.M., Osadchiev A.A., Maltsev Y.I., Kapustin D.A., Konovalova O.P., Kulikovskiy M.S., Krylov I.N., Drozdova A.N. Production of fluorescent dissolved organic matter by microalgae strains from the Ob and Yenisei gulfs (Siberia) // Plants. 2022. Vol. 11. No. 23. P. 3361. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11233361
Osadchiev A., Viting K., Frey D., Demeshko D., Dzhamalova A., Nurlibaeva A., Gordey A., Krechik V., Spivak E., Semilatov I., Stepanova N. Structure and circulation of Atlantic water masses in the St. Anna trough in the Kara Sea // Frontiers in Marine Science. 2022. Vol. 9. P. 915674. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.915674
Tilinina N., Ivonin D., Gavrikov A., Sharmar V., Gulev S., Suslov A., Fadeev V., Trofimov B., Bargman S., Salavatova L., Koshkina V., Shishkova P., Ezhova E., Krinitsky M., Razorenova O., Koltermann K.P., Tereschenkov V., Sokov A. Wind waves in the North Atlantic from ship navigational radar: SeaVision development and its validation with the Spotter wave buoy and WaveWatch III // Earth System Science Data. 2022. Vol. 14. No. 8. P. 3615-3633. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3615-2022
Berezina A., Pakhomova S., Zhdanov I., Mekhova O., Polivanova T., Novikov M., Pogojeva M., Osadchiev A., Stepanova N., Yakushev E. Surface microplastics in the Kara Sea: from the Kara Gates to the 83N // Frontiers in Marine Science. 2023. Vol. 10. 1268879. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1268879
Kopyshov I.O., Kozlov I., Shiryborova A., Myslenkov S. Properties of Short-Period Internal Waves in the Kara Gates Strait Revealed from Spaceborne SAR Data // Russ. J. Earth Sci. 2023. Vol. 23. P. ES021. https://doi.org/10.2205/2023ES02SI10
Kozlov I. E., Kopyshov I. O., Frey D. I., Morozov E. G., Medvedev I. P., Shiryborova A. I., Gavrikov A. V., Ezhova E.A., Soloviev D.M., Plotnikov E. V., Zhuk V.R., Gaisky P.V., Osadchiev A.A., Stepanova N. B. Multi-Sensor Observations Reveal Large-Amplitude Nonlinear Internal Waves in the Kara Gates, Arctic Ocean // Remote Sensing. 2023. Vol. 15. No. 24. P. 5769. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15245769
Myslenkov S., Kruglova E., Medvedeva A., Silvestrova K., Arkhipkin V., Akpinar A., Dobrolyubov S. Number of storms in several Russian seas: Trends and connection to large-scale atmospheric indices // Russ. J. Earth Sci. 2023. Vol. 23. P. ES3002. https://doi.org/10.2205/2023es000828
Stroeva A.R., Melnik A.D., Klyukina A.A., Pirogova A.S., Vidishcheva O.N., Poludetkina E.N., Akhmanov G.G., Bonch-Osmolovskaya E.A., Merkel A.Yu. Microbial Community Structure in the Bottom Sediments of the Barents and Kara Seas and Their Relation to Methane Discharge //Microbiology. 2023. Vol. 92. No. l. P. S63-S68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1134/S0026261723603639
Savin A.S., Krinitskiy M.A., Osadchiev A.A. Arctic Ocean derived from SMAP satellite data using machine learning approaches // Frontiers in Marine Science. 2024. Vol. 11. P. 358882. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1358882/full
Lobus N.V., Glushchenko A.M., Osadchiev A.A., Maltsev Y.I., Kapustin D.A., Konovalova O.P., Kulikovskiy M.S., Krylov I.N., Drozdova A.N. Production of fluorescent dissolved organic matter by microalgae strains from the Ob and Yenisei gulfs (Siberia) // Plants. 2022. Vol. 11. No. 23. P. 3361. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11233361
Osadchiev A., Viting K., Frey D., Demeshko D., Dzhamalova A., Nurlibaeva A., Gordey A., Krechik V., Spivak E., Semilatov I., Stepanova N. Structure and circulation of Atlantic water masses in the St. Anna trough in the Kara Sea // Frontiers in Marine Science. 2022. Vol. 9. P. 915674. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.915674
Tilinina N., Ivonin D., Gavrikov A., Sharmar V., Gulev S., Suslov A., Fadeev V., Trofimov B., Bargman S., Salavatova L., Koshkina V., Shishkova P., Ezhova E., Krinitsky M., Razorenova O., Koltermann K.P., Tereschenkov V., Sokov A. Wind waves in the North Atlantic from ship navigational radar: SeaVision development and its validation with the Spotter wave buoy and WaveWatch III // Earth System Science Data. 2022. Vol. 14. No. 8. P. 3615-3633. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3615-2022
Berezina A., Pakhomova S., Zhdanov I., Mekhova O., Polivanova T., Novikov M., Pogojeva M., Osadchiev A., Stepanova N., Yakushev E. Surface microplastics in the Kara Sea: from the Kara Gates to the 83N // Frontiers in Marine Science. 2023. Vol. 10. 1268879. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1268879
Kopyshov I.O., Kozlov I., Shiryborova A., Myslenkov S. Properties of Short-Period Internal Waves in the Kara Gates Strait Revealed from Spaceborne SAR Data // Russ. J. Earth Sci. 2023. Vol. 23. P. ES021. https://doi.org/10.2205/2023ES02SI10
Kozlov I. E., Kopyshov I. O., Frey D. I., Morozov E. G., Medvedev I. P., Shiryborova A. I., Gavrikov A. V., Ezhova E.A., Soloviev D.M., Plotnikov E. V., Zhuk V.R., Gaisky P.V., Osadchiev A.A., Stepanova N. B. Multi-Sensor Observations Reveal Large-Amplitude Nonlinear Internal Waves in the Kara Gates, Arctic Ocean // Remote Sensing. 2023. Vol. 15. No. 24. P. 5769. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15245769
Myslenkov S., Kruglova E., Medvedeva A., Silvestrova K., Arkhipkin V., Akpinar A., Dobrolyubov S. Number of storms in several Russian seas: Trends and connection to large-scale atmospheric indices // Russ. J. Earth Sci. 2023. Vol. 23. P. ES3002. https://doi.org/10.2205/2023es000828
Stroeva A.R., Melnik A.D., Klyukina A.A., Pirogova A.S., Vidishcheva O.N., Poludetkina E.N., Akhmanov G.G., Bonch-Osmolovskaya E.A., Merkel A.Yu. Microbial Community Structure in the Bottom Sediments of the Barents and Kara Seas and Their Relation to Methane Discharge //Microbiology. 2023. Vol. 92. No. l. P. S63-S68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1134/S0026261723603639
Savin A.S., Krinitskiy M.A., Osadchiev A.A. Arctic Ocean derived from SMAP satellite data using machine learning approaches // Frontiers in Marine Science. 2024. Vol. 11. P. 358882. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1358882/full
Floating University Program in 2024
Winter Scientific School
- took place from February 5 to 7 at 11 venues in 8 cities across Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Vladivostok, Sevastopol, Rostov-on-Don, and Arkhangelsk
- 720 university students and 96 high school students involved
- 33 tracks on ocean and atmospheric physics, marine biology, geology and geophysics, hydrochemistry, data analysis, methods and instruments, ocean monitoring and pollution, Python, and machine learning
- 3 expeditions to the Arctic seas, organized by Moscow state university, Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (finishing), Moscow State University (ongoing), Northern Arctic Federal University (finished)
- 1 expedition to the Baltic Sea by Baltic Federal University and Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (starts on 27 August)
- 1 expedition to the coastal waters of Kamchatka Peninsula and Sea of Okhotsk by Far Eastern Federal University (ongoing)
- 26 research internships in various scientific institutes of Russia (ongoing)
Become a part of the Floating University
We are ready to work on the opportunities for international students to participate in the program. Please contact us if you are interested in collaborating.
We work with
Icons by Tilda Publishing – https://tilda.cc/
The Floating University Program is supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education as part of the National Project "Science and Universities." The program is organized by the Floating University Coordination Center, based at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Program is implemented within the framework of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science, as part of the "Science to Win" initiative under the Russian Federation's Decade of Science and Technology.
