The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the travelling plans, and therefore short-term mobility to the project collaboration partner ELI-UCL in Belgium currently is not possible. However, travelling within the Baltic states is permitted, and collaboration with universities in neighbour countries can be expanded.
Estonian University of Life Sciences (Eesti Maaülikool – EMU), located in Tartu, Estonia, is the only university in Estonia which priorities in academic and research activities provide the sustainable development of natural resources necessary for the existence of Man as well as the preservation of heritage and habitat. According to QS World University Rankings by Subject (2019), EMU is one of the top 50 universities in the world in the field of agriculture and forestry, ranked 48. The university also belongs to the top 1% most cited research facilities in the world (regarding plant physiology professor Ülo Niinemets being the most cited Estonian researcher altogether).
Collaboration with EMU is realized by mutual cooperation with assoc. prof. Mait Kriipsalu, Chair of Rural Building and Water Management at EMU. We already have worked together on several already successfully published scientific papers (e.g., Platinum group elements in geosphere and anthroposphere: Interplay among the global reserves, urban ores, markets and circular economy and On the way to ‘zero waste’ management: Recovery potential of elements, including rare earth elements, from fine fraction of waste).
Currently, we are working together on a scientific paper regarding circular economy approach in weak soil stabilization. Furthermore, the Formula of peat-free soil conditioner has to be adjusted, and one of the possibilities is to add such secondary raw material as compost. It is another direction of research that we can carry forward in mutual cooperation.