Mikheil Elashvili

Prof. Dr Mikheil Elashvili is a professor at the Ilia State University in Tbilisi and since 2017 the Director of the Center for Cultural Heritage and Environmental Studies. He has been coordinating the joint research projects with the UoC since 2013 and conducted several of these personally together with Dr Laermanns. Prof. Elashvili also serves as guest professor at the Bridgewater University, Massachusetts (USA).

Hannes Laermanns

Dr. Hannes Laermanns is a scientific staff member at the Institute of Geography of the University of Cologne. He is the academic manager of the of the International Master of Environmental Sciences (IMES) Program since 2023, and will coordinate the anticipated Joint International Master of Environmental Sciences (JIMES). Since the beginning with his PhD project, Dr Laermanns has been working together with the Ilia State University in Tbilisi and conducted different research projects together with the Georgian colleagues of the ISU. 

Christina Bogner (Cluster Director)

Prof. Dr Christina Bogner leads the ecosystem research working group at the Institute of Geography of the University of Cologne since 2019 and focusses on soil processes and statistical data analysis. She and her working group are members of the CRC 1357 Microplastics and the SFB/TR 228 Future Rural Africa. Since 2023, she is the head of the International Master of Environmental Sciences (IMES) Program, as well as of the anticipated Joint International Master of Environmental Sciences (JIMES), a joint master degree with the Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune, India. Furthermore, she serves as vice-dean of for international relations and communication of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the UoC. 

She is also active as a tandem host for the project: From Lab to Community: A Collaborative Approach for Education and Awareness on Microplastics.

Levan Navrozashvili

Levan is the head of the Complex Environmental Studies Laboratory (Ilia State University), with prior collaborative experience and training in field and Lab work techniques at the University of Cologne. Most importantly Levan is leading the field-work classes with the students from ISU, and visiting students. As a participant in NSF (USA) funded SIMuR project he has worked with US students in Shiraki Plain and visited Bridgewater State University (US) where sediment samples from Shiraki were jointly analyzed. Levan’s PhD research topic is Landscape Changes in Georgia during the past millennia.

Nino Ustiashvili 

MSc in Ecology and MSc in Applied Genetics. She has worked on palynological analysis of Georgian and Estonian samples, supervised by Dr. Koff at the Institute of Ecology of Tallinn University. Nino has also participated in Javakheti international project with Dr. Laermanns. NIno Ustiashvili has valuable experience from the US NSF-funded SIMuR project and provided training to US students in palynological and palaeobotanical analyses of Shiraki sediment samples. Nino’s fields of expertise are Paleoecology and pollution, Pollen analysis, and Genetic studies.