On January 23, the opening session of the All-Russian Conference with International Participation “Scientific Conference in Memory of Professor Kozo-Polyansky 2024 (LXVI)” was held in the conference hall of the main building of VSU. The event was organised by Voronezh State University, Russian Botanical Society (RBO), Voronezh branch of the RBO, and the Department of Botany and Mycology of VSU.
Dmitry Kostin, VSU Vice-Rector for Research, Innovations, and Digitising, spoke at the opening of the conference. He welcomed the participants, noting that Voronezh State University is now deservedly considered to be one of the leading universities in Russia.
“Boris Kozo-Polyansky was a world-class scientist. The relevance of the research conducted by the Head of the Botany Department of VSU has been particularly clear in recent years,” said Dmitry Kostin.
Professor Vladimir Agafonov, DSc in Biology, Head of the Department of Botany and Mycology of VSU, Chair of the Voronezh branch of the RBO, made an opening speech on the topic “Botany: Traditions and Modernity”. He noted an important tradition, preserving the memory of outstanding botanists, masters, which is necessary for maintaining the connection between generations, consolidation of the scientific community, and sustainable development of various areas of scientific research. Vladimir Agafonov emphasised that both classical and new directions of botany are currently being developed. Botanical research is in demand for the development of agriculture, medicine, technology for sustainable use of plant resources, and forecasting and minimising the consequences of anthropogenic transformation of vegetation cover. In addition, Vladimir called for the promotion of botanical knowledge and expansion of outreach work with schoolchildren, attracting them to scientific research.
The meetings of “Scientific Conference in Memory of Professor Kozo-Polyansky 2024 (LXVI)” are scheduled from 23 to 24 January. As part of the scientific event, the participants will visit the Professor Khmelyov Central Black Earth Region Vegetation Museum, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in May 2023.
