CORE TEAM

Ing. Jan Šebesta, Ph.D.

Education Project Manager in Mongolia

Academic staff member at the Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocenology of the LDF of MENDELU. He was the project leader of the project Development of the internationalization of the research environment of Mendel University, within the framework of which he completed a six-month research stay at Utah State University in the USA in 2018, and the project leader of the Forestry and Landscape Education Course in Mongolia. He has been a co-investigator and contributed to the successful implementation of a number of projects in the Czech Republic and abroad - e.g. Harmonization of lowland forestry as a tool for conservation of higher plant species diversity, Implementation of science and research in teaching, Frameworks and options for forestry adaptation measures and strategies related to climate change (FrameAdapt), and others. He has been teaching botany at MENDELU for more than 10 years, specializing in the relationship between forest management and vegetation, forest dynamics, and statistical data processing.

Ing. David Juřička, Ph.D.

Head and organizational guarantor of the Mongolia Expedition project

Academic researcher at the Department of Geology and Pedology, LDF MENDELU. He completed his PhD studies at LDF in Forest Ecology. He has been travelling to Mongolia to conduct forestry research since 2009. Since 2014, he has been regularly organizing and conducting scientific research expeditions to Mongolia once or twice a year. In 2018, he was successful in the Erasmus+ ICM grant call, which enabled 10 Mongolian forestry students to study in the country in the academic year 2019/2020. Since 2008, he has been involved as an organizer/co-organizer of Scientific research of Mongolia and Central Asia conferences organized at LDF MENDELU. He specializes in forestry and environmental topics. He deals with issues of forest rejuvenation and damage to forest stands by livestock. Succession in forest and non-forest habitats. Alternative methods of afforestation of arid areas. The risk of permafrost thawing and desertification of the landscape.

Ing. Václav Pecina

Organizational guarantor of the Expedition Mongolia project

Researcher at the Institute of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition at MENDELU and PhD student in Environmental Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry, BUT. Graduate of European Forestry at LDF MENDELU. Since 2014, he has been participating in scientific expeditions to Mongolia, aimed at research on permafrost and forest ecosystem degradation, overgrazing issues and environmental contamination. As a co-organizer, he has participated in the Scientific research of Mongolia and Central Asia conferences organized at LDF MENDELU. He specializes in environmental contamination by heavy metals, degradation of forest ecosystems, ways to combat aridization of the landscape and improve cultivation practices in agriculture.