VINNYTSIA SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOGENIC LANDSCAPE STUDIES. (SCHOOL OF PROFESSOR HRYHORIY DENYSYK)

Abstract

Abstract. The development of scientific schools, including geography and landscape studies, is a complex and often unpredictable process. It is no coincidence that scholars pay little attention to this issue. The purpose is to analyze the formation of the modern functioning and development prospects of the Vinnytsia School of Anthropogenic Landscape Studies, to show the need to distinguish and support the development of scientific schools in Ukraine. By a scientific school we mean a historically defined team that develops promising problems of the relevant landscape science field in our case. It is shown that the study of anthropogenic landscapes by the school’s scientists can be divided into two stages: the first is the development of regional anthropogenic landscape science, which involved the knowledge of all classes of anthropogenic landscapes of Podillia and Ukraine, and the second is the in-depth development of the foundations of general anthropogenic landscape science and its connections with other scientific fields.
It is noted that the new problems that the scientists of the Vinnytsia School of Anthropogenic Landscape Science are working on are promising and will contribute to the successful development of the school in the future.
It is noted that natural geographers do not have a single view of the concept of «scientific school». On the example of the Vinnytsia School of Anthropogenic Landscape Studies, the process of formation of a scientific school against the background of the general anthropocentric reorientation of the worldview of natural geographers of Ukraine in the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries is considered. The results of the first stage of research include numerous scientific expeditions; publication of 6 series of monographs on anthropogenic landscapes of Podillia and Ukraine; defense of 4 doctoral and 32 PhD theses by the school’s researchers, holding of scientific conferences and publication of popular science collections on anthropogenic landscape studies. The second stage began in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The main research problems are discussed in separate articles, and the results are partially reflected in a new series of monographs under the general title «Modern Nature and Landscapes of Ukraine».
The study of anthropogenic landscapes by geographers of Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University can be divided into two stages: the first is the development of regional anthropogenic landscape studies, which involves detailed research of anthropogenic landscapes of Podillia and Ukraine; the second is the in-depth development of the foundations of general anthropogenic landscape studies, taking into account the achievements of domestic and foreign scientists. The studies of anthropogenic landscapes during these stages are closely interconnected and are constantly supplemented and enriched. At the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century, anthropogenic landscape science in Ukraine completed the first stage of its development, which resulted not only in theoretical developments and detailed knowledge of certain classes of anthropogenic landscapes, but also in the formation of new promising areas of research. The scientists of the Vinnytsia School of Anthropogenic Landscape Studies have identified seven new priorities for the study of modern (natural, natural-anthropogenic, anthropogenic) landscapes of Ukraine, which are still poorly understood, but relevant problems discussed in detail in the article of the head of the school, Professor Denysyk H. I. «Revival of Landscape Studies in Ukraine».