Short name: UKF
Country: Slovakia
Type of organisation: academic / research
www.ukf.sk/en/
Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa v Nitre – UKF) is a public university, which was established in 1959. UKF has secured its position in the Slovak higher education system while transforming itself into a university, an advanced educational and research institution meeting the criteria imposed on European university institutions. The University offers a variety of study programmes at bachelor, master and doctoral level, providing flexibility within 5 faculties.In addition to its strong tradition in training of teachers for primary and secondary schools, UKF also offers study programmes for future social workers, experts for cultural organizations and institutions, political scientists, catechists, journalists, archaeologists, historians, musicologists, biologists, environmentalists, mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, psychologists, gemmologists and other professionals. The University carries out study in 344 study programs in all three levels of higher education (90 of teacher training study programs and 254 non-teacher training study programs). The university staff consists of 528academic and 423 administration employees. The higher education in all study levels is offered to 7584 students.
Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Natural Sciences UKF (KEE) will be the primary workplace of the proposed project. KEE is an interdisciplinary research and educational body that contributes to the development and application of new methods in the field of ecology and environmental sciences. Researchers at KEE have long been focusing on assessing land use changes in the context of biodiversity (including landscape connectivity and fragmentation); zoological and botanical research (including invasive species distribution); assessing natural threats to the landscape; the impact of landscape processes and human activities on human wellbeing (including transportation); possibilities of using GIS and remote sensing techniques in science.
At present, the issue of ecosystem services assessment within the framework of the project activities, publications and PhD studies is intensively addressed at the KEE workplace. The emphasis is on methods of assessing ecosystem functions and services, as well as the current state of implementation of this concept in landscape planning and management.
