Professor Michael Shilin of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU) in St. Petersburg presented, on 23rd February, two copies of the Russian translation of ’Environmental Aspects of Dredging’ to Nick Bray, who edited the original text.
The presentation took place in London, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, which also hosts the UK Section of CEDA.
The Russian version of the CEDA-IADC book is now used as a textbook on courses at two universities in St. Petersburg. In addition to the Environmental Aspects of Dredging course, taught by Professor Shilin at RSHU, Professor Alexander Chusov also uses it on his brand new course Development of Infrastructure of Reclaimed Areas, at the State Polytechnical University of St Petersburg.
The translation of the book into Russian has been quite a major achievement. The fact that the English word “dredging” has had to be transplanted into Russian indicates the sort of challenges the translators and editors had to face.
The idea to translate the book emerged during the seminar Eco-friendly Dredging in the Modern World, held in St Petersburg in 2009. It was jointly organised by CEDA and RSHU and marked the start of a fruitful and close co-operation between the two organisations. Several successful joint undertakings have taken place since then and RSHU has subsequently joined CEDA as a Corporate Member.
Professor Shilin, who is a member of the CEDA Environment Commission (CEC), and Professor Chusov will join the CEC meeting in April. The next new CEDA-IADC handbook, with the working title ‘Sustainable Dredging’ is tabled for discussion at that meeting.