Aleksei ZAVARZIN

Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Vice Chair
 

Dr. Alex Zavarzin  is currently director of the AI in Agrobiotechnolgy center of the ITMO University (https://en.itmo.ru) combining this position with advisory to the State selectional achievements commission of Russia (https://gossortrf.ru).  Previously he combined university professorship with service  of vice-provost for biology, geography, geoecology and soils of St.Petersburg state university. Dr. Zavarzin also worked for the All-Russia center for talented children “Sirius” recently established at the former Olympic infrastructure in Sochi and later as a deputy director of Vavilov Center opf Plant Genetic resources (VIR). For many years Dr. Zavarzin combined his academic research with work in environmental NGO “Baltic Fund for Nature” followed nowadays by a membership in the IUCN Member organization - All-Russian Society of Nature Protection-Leningrad region office. (https://voop.spb.ru) where he is the academic leader for the biodiversity projects.

Dr. Zavazrin has been an active member in a number of professional societies. He participated and led many international environmental projects in Russia and NW Europe, sponsored by WWF, Programmes of European Union, UNDP with many of them being implemented under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidance. He has wide experience in promoting biodiversity field studies, networking of protected areas, implementation of environmental legislation and transboundary collaboration, enhancing youth involvement into decision making and introducing of education for sustainable development and communication.

Dr. Zavarzin is a regional vice-chair of the IUCN CEC and vice co-chair for IUCN ICENCA, as well as a member of the IUCN Russian National Committee.