How did it all start?
The Scientific Exploration of Mongolia student project was originally initiated as an idea by students and some pedagogical staff from the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University in Brno. An important event for the implementation and future continuation of the plan was the start of cooperation with the Mongolian University of Science and Technology and the domestic company Geotest Brno as in projects to help developing countries find supplies of industrial and drinking resources in desert and semi-desert environments at the OECD and the UN.
The first student expedition to Mongolia took place in 2000 and the main role was played by doc. Mgr. Jindřich Kynický, Ph.D., then still a student. During this expedition, its members traveled almost 2/3 of the Mongolian territory, while searching for and discovering the localities of rocks, minerals, geological formations and paleontological finds important for further research. The outputs of the first two expeditions under the auspices of MU in Brno include 8 semester and bachelor's theses, 2 diploma theses and 3 student conferences.
Further expeditions and the growing importance of the project
The third expedition was again initiated by doc. Mgr. Jindrich Kynicky, Ph.D. in connection with his admission to the doctorate at the Institute of Geology and Pedology, Faculty of Medicine, MENDELU in Brno. The expedition focused on a detailed survey of selected mineralogically interesting and often unexplored sites in the south and west of Mongolia. In connection with this expedition, other topics of diploma theses arose, but this time already solving environmental problems, especially in connection with the sustainable development of rural areas, forests and water resources in the cold regions of northern Mongolia.
Since the third expedition, MENDELU students in Brno have played a major role in the following years, and almost every expedition culminates in a scientific conference with international participation under the auspices of MENDELU. In 2005–2011, the largest conferences took place with representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Czech-Mongolian Chamber of Commerce, the Mining Union, representatives of the Mongolian embassy and a number of domestic and foreign partners, discussing not only their own results but also future support options and the future of Czech and Slovak foreign development aid to Mongolia.
The growing importance of the forestry and environmental sector
After a slight decline in expeditions, 2014 became a significant milestone. This year, the expedition was prepared together with Canadian partners as the largest of all expeditions and included 12 students from fields such as Forestry, Management of Natural Resources of Tropical and Subtropical Areas and Arboriculture. Thanks to the great diversity of planned student research, focusing mainly on forest ecosystems, but also partly on geology and environmental pollution, the team was also divided into two parts during the expedition. Within the geological section, doc. Mgr. Jindrich Kynicky, Ph.D. conduct research into the Gobi Desert, while the forestry team took over Ing. David Juřička, Ph.D. and continued to the area of Lake Chövsgöl. This division of research led to the establishment of a new main thematic direction, which was also confirmed by the following expeditions carried out in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Since 2015, the field part of the project has been led by Ing. David Juřička, Ph.D. main focus on the study of landscape aridization, including permafrost functioning, forest regeneration, biotic and abiotic harmful factors in forests, but also grazing of steppes. Other topics include environmental contamination, arboricultural plantings in cities, etc.