Institute of Environmental Solutions (IES) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia for common research, exchange of experience and knowledge in the field of ethnobotany.
To develop international collaboration and strengthen the competences in ethnobotany, the organisations will define common interests and similar goals in teaching and research as well as enhancing educational opportunities for students, faculty and administrative staff and establish cultural and scientific relations. The organisations have agreed to exchange information on their respective academic programmes and research activities, including student exchange programmes and summer schools, and knowledge transfer by making conferences and seminars.
During this year IES has started to develop the ethnobotany research. In cooperation with experts from Estonia and Belarus specially selected team of researchers interviewed locals form different regions of Latvia to find out the traditional knowledge and usage of wild plants – their collection, production and applications in medicine, cosmetics, food and other fields. The aim of this research was to collect traditional knowledge, save it for the next generations, and invest the findings in building new agricultural innovations. . To continue IES’s research and develop it to the level of European research, as a result of first ethnobotany research, IES signed the memorandum of understanding with Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia.