Collaboration with higher education institutions
Over the years, Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology (LHEI) has established close cooperation with several universities offering marine, freshwater and wider environmental sciences-related study programs at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
At the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Latvia, LHEI staff members run a bachelor level course “Grounds for the Ecology of the Baltic Sea,” which is followed by master level courses “Instruments for Baltic Sea Environment Protection” and “Environmental Monitoring”. LHEI staff members are also responsible for courses and involved in field courses at the Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences.
LHEI offers research placements and work opportunities for students, which have been highly encouraged at University of Latvia and Riga Technical University. We also offer academic supervision, advice and facilities for students working on their bachelor, master and PhD theses at the University of Latvia, University of Daugavpils and abroad. The supervision LHEI offers helps bridge the gap between taught undergraduate and applied postgraduate research and allows students to specialize in marine science. LHEI and the universities it collaborates with see this as a particularly important role in the Latvian education system, as there are currently no marine science-focused study programmes offered by universities in Latvia.
Recent doctoral graduates co-supervised by researchers at LHEI were registered at the Faculty of Biology, now part of the Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences (Labuce 2022 and Labucis 2023), and the Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences, now part of the Faculty of Science and Technology (Suhareva 2023) at the University of Latvia. Outside of Latvia, LHEI researchers have co-supervised a doctoral student at the Department of Sustainability and Planning, Aalborg University, Denmark (Armoskaite 2023) on the topic of social-ecological model operationalization for ecosystem-based management.