THE University of Stirling has partnered with a Ukrainian university to carry out research into the water quality in Ukraine.

The research is led by Andrew Tyler, professor of environmental science and Scotland Hydro Nation chair, and will see water quality monitoring carried out remotely using satellite technology.

Professor Tyler is working alongside experts at Odessa State Environmental University to find ways of enhancing and protecting water quality in post-war Ukraine.

“Everything in Ukraine has been impacted by the war,” Professor Tyler said. “This includes the quality of freshwater in lakes and reservoirs.

“Water quality is critical to human health but conventional sampling of aquatic systems is challenging during military conflicts.

“The availability of free-to-access, consistent and long-term Earth observation (EO) data provide the ability to observe aquatic systems remotely.

“Few countries have the capacity to fully exploit the potential of these new satellite data products so our aim is to build the expertise in Odessa State University to exploit the EO opportunities for national monitoring.”

The United Nations Environment Programme released a preliminary assessment that suggested the Russo-Ukrainian war has caused untold damage to pumping stations and purification plants.

The University of Stirling has been awarded funds through Universities UK International’s (UUKi) twinning initiative to support joint research with Odessa State University.

This forms part of a £4.42 million fund made available to UK universities to promote research in Ukraine’s universities so they can play a critical role in post-war reconstruction.