Summer school in Uzbekistan

It’s August – cold in Bergen and 36°C in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Prof. Nils-Kåre Birkeland and students Chandini Murarilal Ratnadevi (PhD) and Eliya Cholakova (MSc) from the “Extremophiles and biotechnology” group at the University of Bergen are heading towards Tashkent to meet fellow extremophiles from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, China and Germany. The occasion is Summer school 2018, a conference-style course bringing together scientists as part of the Eurasian network for advanced higher education in the field of general and applied microbiology, funded by the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education. Under the title “Extremophiles: From biology to biotechnology” the book of abstracts included 27 entries. Over the course of one week, students exchanged academic and cultural knowledge and learned from internationally renowned experts. Many students, including the UiB representatives, got the chance to present and receive feedback on their research through oral presentation and a poster session. A very educational tour of the Tashkent university botanical garden revealed the variety of crops grown in an arid climate. Students also got an interesting sneak-peak of ongoing biotechnological research setups. A visit to the ancient city of Samarkand, a major stop on the Silk Road, took everyone to a cross-point between the past and the present and highlighted the end of an exciting summer school that will hopefully result in strengthened future scientific partnerships.