Earth Day Celebrations at the Faculty of Earth Sciences & Environmental Management
May 26, 2022 by Oliwia Gertych
On Friday, the 22nd of April, we celebrated World Earth Day! In the spirit of celebrating our mother nature under the banner “Invest in Our Planet”, the geographers and geologists of the University of Wroclaw invited this year’s high school graduates to their headquarters.
They planned the whole day of activities and lectures to show them what’s being done daily within the walls of the university. The point of that is of course encouragement of youngsters to study geography, geology, spatial planning, geological engineering, and tourism.
Visiting the Geological and Mineralogical Museums
There’s no better time to start a discussion about our planet than an annual celebration honouring the achievements of the environmental movement and raising awareness of the importance of long-term ecological sustainability.
The day at the Institute of the Geological Sciences started with inviting the students to the Geological and Mineralogical Museums, where they could enjoy an hour-long free guided tour.
The regional collection in the Geological museum includes unique samples of cores from the Bardzkie Mountains. Meanwhile, the collections of the Mineralogical Museum include about 30,000 specimens of minerals from around the world.
Starting the day at the Institute of the Geosciences & Environmental Management
The celebrations at the university started early morning, at 10 a.m., with a formal greeting of the prospective students. They listened to the welcoming words of the dean of the Faculty of Geosciences and Environmental Management, prof. Henryk Marszałek.
Later on, the students had a chance to attend several lectures prepared especially for the occasion. The agenda included titles such as:
- From the Arctic to Antarctica - from water to rare earth elements by dr Adriana Trojanowska-Olichwer
- Geologist - work of the future or the past? by dr hab. Magdalena Matusiak-Małek
- Geological studies - what does it look like from the inside? by dr Waldemar Sroka
- Student scientific club – how to see the world while studying!
Moving on to the Institute of Geography and Regional Development (IGRD)
During the second part of the day, the festivities moved to the Institute of Geography and Regional Development. After an opening speech, the students participated in a lecture titled 'Geography in the modern world', where they learned what a geographer's work entails.
Our department researchers prepared speeches and engaged in conversations with the participants, discussing several important issues regarding the Earth:
- Geographic information system (GIS) - a universal tool by prof. Tomasz Niedzielski
- Geohazards by dr Filip Duszyński
- Extreme weather phenomena and climate protection by dr hab. Marek Błaś
- Space management by dr. Anna Grochowska
After the lectures, our guests participated in other activities prepared by the department. One of them was workshops on city design, where the student could hands-on experience making a model of infrastructure.
The workshops, titled 'Design your residential complex', were prepared and presented by the Studio of Social Participation and Scientific Club of Spatial Management, both a part of the Department of Spatial Development. Our future university students were able to see how to combine theory with practice in shaping and managing space.
Wrocław from the Mathematical Tower top
Meanwhile, the Department of Climatology and Atmospheric Protection invited the participants to the top of the Mathematical Tower. It’s the former Astronomical Observatory of our scientists and a place where climatologists have been taking temperature measurements for a long time. Now it forms a part of the Museum of the University of Wrocław. The students who joined for this part of the event agenda had the opportunity to see how to use the instruments for measuring air quality!
After a short discussion, during which the participants could admire the panorama of the city of Wrocław, they went down to University square, where there was a further demonstration of equipment used to conduct research - a drone with apparatus.
The day was closed by an open lecture by dr Aleksandra Michniewicz: From Pilgrims to Okole, or what we know about the rocks in the Western Sudetes. In addition to lectures and workshops, there was a stand in the corridor, run by students representing scientific clubs, who were providing the future candidates with materials and valuable comments.
We would like to remind you that at the Institute of Geography and Regional Development you can apply for geography, spatial planning, and tourism studies! Check the requirments on the official University’s International Office website. Admission for 2022/23 is currently open!
Should you have any queries related to the Tourism & Hospitality studies at the University of Wrocław or you need general information about the city, please write to us on social media - Facebook, Instagram, or contact us via email.
Oliwia Gertych
Oliwia is a Master's student of Spanish Philology at the University of Wrocław. She has hands-on experience in content creation, translation, and events management. Oliwia has an impeccable command of multiple international languages, such as Polish, English, Spanish, French, and Italian, making her a competent linguist. Apart from writing, she engages with the artistic community of the city as a violinist and a singer.
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