Our Team
NGO “Danube-Carpathian Programme”
– is a team of experts and scientists on ecology, nature conservation, sustainable development of natural ecosystems, forestry, wetlands, environmental law and other problems of protection and sustainable development of the environment.
Bohdan Prots, Ph.D. (1997), Senior Research Scientists (Assoc. Prof., 2003)
- CEO and Director of the NGO "Danube-Carpathian Programme".
Areas of scientific and expert work: conservation biology, plant ecology, conservation and protected areas management, floodplain management, nature protection policy.
Experience: over 30 years of expertise and research in biodiversity and natural resource management across countries in Europe and Asia; over 20 years of managing international projects on nature conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources in the Danube-Carpathian Region; for more than 11 years, he served as the leader of WWF in Ukraine. He is also the Head of the Department of Landscape and Biota Diversity at the State Museum of Natural History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine (2018).
Awards: Whitley Award Winner for Nature Conservation (2007, London) (“Green Oscar” in Nature Conservation) and National Geographic Society’s Wayfinder Award (2024).
Nataliya Gorban-Fedorova
Communications Manager, environmentalist, and journalist with over 10 years of experience in media, ranging from regional to national outlets. She has worked as a reporter, investigative journalist, and editor of an environmental online publication. She graduated with honors from Lviv Polytechnic National University with a Master’s degree in Ecology and Environmental Protection.
Areas of expertise: communications, environmental journalism, investigative journalism, and multimedia production (text, graphics, photography, and video production/editing).
Vasyl Gavryliuk
- expert on forestry practice in Ukraine. Forestry specialist with many years of scientific and teaching experience.
Areas of expertise: sustainable forest management, monitoring of forest territories using remote methods, evaluation of old-growth forests.
Oksana Hnatyna
- researcher, PhD in Biology (2008), Associate Professor (2024) at the Department of Zoology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. Professional activity focuses on education, wildlife conservation, and wetland protection, with more than 25 years of research experience. Main research areas include the impact of human activities on wildlife, bird migration studies, and the conservation of wetlands as habitats for rare bird species. Member of the West Ukrainian Ornithological Society, the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds, and the European Bird Migration Research Group.
Areas of expertise: nature conservation, environmental education, ecosystem services.
Andriy Kiyko
- Mg.Sc in ‘biology”, an expert on environmental education, protected areas management and capacity building, conservation management of wildlife.
Experience: more than 25 years in the field of environmental education and research studies in the field of vertebrate fauna. He also has research interests in the field of vertebrate zoology, environmental pedagogy, nature conservation, wildlife rehabilitation.
Areas of expertise: environmental education and training, protected areas management, conservation and restoration of wild vertebrates diversity.
Oleg Orlov
- PhD in “soil ecology”, an expert on soil ecology and nature protection. Winner of the scholarship of the President of Ukraine and the Head of the Lviv Regional State Administration for young scientists and specialists. Member of the Society of Soil Scientists and Agrochemists of Ukraine. Experience: more than 20 years in soil ecology and soil protection, He also has research interests in floodplain soils, nature conservation and wetlands management.
Areas of expert work: soil ecology, carbon balance, Red Book of soils, soil types in Western Ukraine, physical and geographical characteristics of natural and anthropogenic habitats, conservation of wetlands, biodiversity conservation.
Maryna Ragulina
- expert in plant ecology and nature conservation. PhD in Biology.
Areas of expert work: bryoecology, phytoecology, nature conservation, preservation of floodplain ecosystems, research on plant diversity in natural and anthropogenically transformed habitats of western Ukraine.
Andrew Scanlon
Andrew manages environmental planning for projects in Ukraine and globally. He applies biodiversity conservation science, Strategic and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEA), and geoinformatics and mapping.
Andrew has held leadership roles in UN and non-governmental environmental projects across East Africa, Central Asia, Europe, the Levant, the USA, and China. His experience covers project management, scientific research, damage assessment, chemicals, waste, sanitation programmes, and environmental restoration. He has authored numerous technical publications, policy papers, reports, and assessments, often serving as an editor or contributor. He resides between Ukraine and the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland.
Vasylyna Strus
- is a zoologist, researcher, and expert in biodiversity monitoring and amphibian conservation. She received her PhD in zoology in 2019 from V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. She has over 10 years of experience in field and laboratory research. She is the author of scientific publications, identifiers, and methodological manuals on the genetic and morphological diversity of amphibians, roadkill, fauna monitoring, and the use of digital tools in nature conservation. She has participated in research projects in the United States and in numerous training courses on ecosystem management and climate change adaptation.
Areas of expertise: biodiversity monitoring, batrachology, ecosystem assessment, roadkill, and public engagement in nature research.
Nataliya Stryamets
- got her PhD from Faculty of Forest Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden in 2016 on use and governance of non-wood forest resources and her PhD in Forestry and forest sciences from Forestry Faculty, National Forestry University of Ukraine in 2013. Post doc, she did at Ca’ Foscari University in Italy, funded by ERC grant. Then she was working as researcher at SLU, Sweden.
Areas of expertise: sustainability and nature protection, sustainable farming, ethnobotany, policy implementation, rural development, non-wood forest goods and services. She is author of more than 36 publications and one patent.
