From July 17th to August 11th, 2023, five students completed internships at faculty as part of the program's third edition (https://tssp.umk.pl/natsci/index.html). The internship program was prepared and coordinated by Prof. dr hab. Wojciech Kujawski from the Faculty of Chemistry and dr. hab. Przemysław Charzyński, NCU prof. Sixteen students participated in the program, 14 from foreign universities and 2 from NCU. Fourteen projects were carried out, 9 in the field of chemistry and 5 in geography and tourism.
Two projects were carried out in the Department of Hydrology and Water Management. The scientific project titled "Assessment of quantitative and qualitative resources of small water reservoirs using the example of Toruń in the context of climate change" was prepared by dr. Katarzyna Kubiak-Wójcicka in cooperation with dr Adam Solarczyk from the Laboratory of Environmental Analysis. Radu Radulescu from Valahia University of Targoviste (Romania) participated in the project, conducting physicochemical research on selected water reservoirs in Toruń. Trainee, under the supervision of Dr. Adam Solarczyk, collected water samples from the reservoirs and performed analyses in the Laboratory for Environmental Analysis. The second project, titled "Revitalization of riverside areas and their impact on tourism development," was conducted by Ioana Pastor from Valahia University of Targoviste (Romania), under the supervision of Katarzyna Kubiak-Wójcicka. Trainee conducted research on the revitalization of riverside areas and their impact on tourism, with a special focus on water tourism. The research was carried out in Toruń and Bydgoszcz, starting with an assessment of the needs of water tourism and the state of waterway development. The obtained results allowed for an evaluation of the revitalization effects and a comparison with the state of development of Danube River areas in Romania.
Two interns carried out their projects in the Department of Soil Science and Landscape Management.
Hana Husarova from Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, worked on a project ‘Soils as tourism attractions’ analyzing resources that could be targeted for "soil tourism." During her internship, she analyzed the visibility of soil-related attractions, such as museums and soil reserves, in the web. She also conducted surveys among tourists visiting Toruń regarding their knowledge of soil science issues and potential interest in soil-focused tourism attractions. The scientific supervisor of the project was dr. hab. Przemysław Charzyński, NCU prof.
Damla Karadede from Ege Üniversitesi in Izmir, Turkey, worked on a project related to the variability of pH values in the surface layers of morainic plateau soils. Fieldwork was carried out at three sites representing the soil cover with varying degrees and extents of erosional transformations. Some fieldwork was conducted during the spring (the student was at Faculty as part of the Erasmus+ program for the entire winter semester), with laboratory work continuing in the summer. The project was supervised by dr. hab. Marcin Świtoniak, NCU prof., and MSc Kinga Milewska.
In the Department of Geomatics and Cartography, Darina Usyk from Ukraine, a student specializing in ecology at the Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Protection of T.H. Shevchenko "Chernihiv Colehium" University in Chernihiv, participated in the NatSci internship program under the supervision of dr. hab. Mieczysław Kunz, NCU prof. The main goal of project was the spatial analysis of light pollution due to artificial lighting in selected residential areas of Toruń. Nightly systematic measurements were carried out using a handheld SQM photometer from the Canadian company Unihedron, and analyses and visualizations were performed using geographic information systems (GIS) and portals providing thematic data, including remote sensing data.
As part of the internship program, students attended lectures every Thursday and, as part of the cultural program, visited Toruń and Chełmno, prepared gingerbreads at the The Museum of Toruń Gingerbread, and participated in workshop on "Environmental, Biological, Chemical, and Enotourism aspects of Viticulture" at the 'Przy Talerzyku' winery in Topolno in the Lower Vistula Valley.
