The date of the event: 18th of February 2016
The first in 2016 meeting of the Media Club of the Russian Geographical Society took place at the headquarters of the Society in Moscow. The President of the Society Sergey Shoygu told the representatives of the leading Russian mass media about the brightest projects, new expeditions and plans for the current year.
The First Vice-Presidents of the Russian Geographical Society Nikolay Kasimov and Arthur Chilingarov, the Head of the Expeditionary center of the Society Alexandr Orlov and the Deputy Director of the Institute of History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences Natalya Solovyova.
Opening the Media Club, Sergey Shoygu noted, that such kind of meetings are very important for the Russian Geographical Society, as they let not only to inform about the work of the Society, but to get to know what are the readers and the viewers are interested in.
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2016 is announced as a Year of Cinema in Russia. The input of the Russian Geographical Society to the all-Russian events will be the series of cinema showing all over the country. Within the frames of the grant program the Society annually supports shooting of the several dozen of the science-popular and documentary films. As a result in the archives of the Russian Geographical Society there has been collected the unique video- and cinema material which will be available for watching to everyone in 2016.
Sergey Shoygu: «The film screenings will take place countrywide. We will start from Moscow and St. Petersburg, where our headquarters are located. Then we are planning to go to the federal sites, such as the Exhibition of Economic Achievements. Then we will enter the regions, the branches of the Society, which cover all the country as you know».
The film screenings will be accompanied by the meetings with creative teams of the films, lectures of the researchers, scientists and the travelers. The President of the Society noted that today the representatives of the youth wing of the Russian geographical Society are actively developing the Cinema Club for their peers. «The Media Club has managed to prove itself, and now it is left only to connect to this functioning all the country», - the President of the Society mentioned.
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There will be held the second awarding ceremony of the Prize of the Russian Geographical Society in 2016. The awards has got international status, and is being handed in for significant contribution to the development of national geography, ecology, maintenance of the nature and historical and cultural heritage of Russia. The awards of the Russian Geographical Society – is a good chance to promulgate your own research and to get public support. The bidding campaign for the competition awards starts in March, and its winners will be announced in autumn of 2016.
Sergey Shoygu: «We are inviting everyone to take part in the Awards! There are thousands of important projects which are being implemented in our country. We would like the authors of the projects to have an opportunity to get the Awards of the Russian Geographical Society, and that means to receive the potential for development».
The selecting tour of the second photo contest of the Russian Geographical Society «The most beautiful country» begins in March. More than 25 thousand people took part in it last year, having sent about 200 thousand works. The contest will become more scale in 2016. One of the winners of the year of 2015 will enter the jury, and the list of nominations will be renovated. Sergey Shoygu did not open all the details, but promised that he would tell about this creative competition at the special press-conference.
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Besides, during all the 2016 year in different regions of Russia and abroad there will be held exhibitions of photo works which won in the first contest. The Russian Geographical Society worked out the whole series of branded souvenirs dedicated to the best pictures. All that serves a common goal – popularization of the unique natural and cultural complexes, which are not only being a reason for pride for the country, but potential tourist sites as well.
One more theme for discussion at the Media Club meeting was the All-Russian congress of geography teachers, which is stated for this autumn. It is expected that about 700 delegates of all the country will take part in it.
The tradition of keeping congresses of geography teachers after almost 100-years break was renovated on the initiative of the Russian Geographical Society in 2011.
At the forthcoming meeting the teachers will discuss a new conception of subject teaching, creating new text-books as well.
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Nikolay Kasimov: «The meeting will become an important event in our «educational life». A new conception of school geography education should be affirmed. We will discuss in details new training and metodology complex: the entire set of textbooks and manuals, which includes about 30-40 publications. And we will recommend the Ministry to increase the time on geography… We will demand the geography to enter the number of mandatory reporting subjects at school.
Not only teachers, parents, but the children themselves will participate in development of geographical education concept and requirements for new textbooks. There are young talents amongst them, for them the Russian Geographical Society launches the second year in a row profile shifts in the best Russian children`s camps: «Artek», «Orlyenok», «Smena» and «Ocean». The quantity of permits will be increased almost twice, till 800!
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In the coming days on the volunteer.rgo.ru starts the contest for the right for participating in all the four profile shifts.
To take part in the contest, it is necessary to fill in the form. The participants of the profile shift can be the pupils in the age from 10 to 17 years old. During the selection there is motivation of the children taken to account, their progress, teachers recommendations, participation in the international, all-Russian and regional contests on geography, ethnography, history and regional studies.
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On the same website volunteer.rgo.ru for students and young scientists there will be open competitive selection for participation in the expeditions of the Society, amongst which is Hogland, Shumshu, Crimea, Amur and Steppe complex expeditions, and a number of other.
Besides, the Society will start research the Matua island of a Kuril chain. No man has gone there before the beginning of 2000th, except maybe frontier guard or a brave adventurer. Now it is easier with this, however, Matua is still being one of the scantily explored islands of the region. The artifacts of The Second World War have been preserved there and a set of fortifications as well. What is myth, and what is reality of them, - the search engineers and the scientists of the Russian Geographical Society need to clear out.
Sergey Shoygu: «We would like the life to come back to this island».
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Amongst the other notable expeditions there should be noted the heritage of Okunev archaeological culture of Early Bronze Age study project, which is concentrated in the Republic of Khakassia.
During the expedition, having been planned for this year, the scientific research of the mounds of the burial ground Itkul-2 (Shirinsky District of Khakassia) is supposed. All the finds which were found during the excavations, will be given for permanent storage to The State Hermitage Museum and will replenish its exhibition collection.
Okunevskaya culture (XV-XVIII centuries BC - Early Bronze Age) is standing out with its unique artistic heritage, which is of particular interest not only of professional scientific community, but wide range of people interested in history as well. One of the features of Okunevskaya culture – is the unique diversity of all investigated mounds. Each time starting excavation of a new mound, the scientists can not say with confidence what expects them this time.
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Arthur Chilingarov told about arctic research: «Arctic remains one of the priorities of the activity of the Russian Geographical Society. We presented the plan of complex expedition for exploring Franz Josef Land. We are carrying on this work on Novosibirsk islands and on the Wrangel island as well. Besides, we are planning the seasonal drifting camp of the Russian Geographical Society in the area of the North Pole. Special attention will be paid not only to Arctic, but to the Far East as well, where we will be using two manned submersibles already».
Then the President of the Russian Geographical Society and managers of the projects of the Society answered numerous questions of the journalists.
Photo by Nikolay Razuvaev