Senior Lecturer of the Department of Management and Marketing, Ph.D. Yulia Shvedyuk took part in the international project DAAD "Transnational Biosphere Forests – Cooperative Learning in UNESCO Biosphere Regions for Conflict Prevention and Sustainable Transformation" and completed a research internship at the Center for Economics and Ecosystem Management of the University of Sustainable Development (Germany). The research supervisor of the project is Dr. Pierre Ibish, Professor at the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Protection, University of Sustainable Development, Eberswalde.

During the internship the peculiarities of recreational and tourist activities in the Schorfheide-Horin Biosphere Reserve in the conditions of increasing environmental threats, diversity and variability of natural conditions in response to VUCA challenges (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) were studied in conflict prevention and sustainable transformation practices in protected areas. In order to determine the economic assessment of cultural services of ecosystems (recreation, tourism, attractiveness of landscapes, cultural value, aesthetic value, etc.) surveys of various stakeholder groups (employees of the biosphere reserve, researchers of the Institute of Biosphere Reserves, tourists, etc.) were made. 

The results of the research internship will be used in the educational process, in particular during the teaching of disciplines "Recreational Management" for students of the specialty 073 "Management" and "Organization and management in environmental protection" for students of the specialty 101 "Ecology".

Abroad internships allow to disseminate experience and areas of research in Ukraine, exchange knowledge, strengthen international cooperation, in particular between the University of Sustainable Development in Eberswalde and UNFU.