Professor, PhD of Biological Sciences (1991, Hydrobiology), Advanced Doctor in Geographical Sciences (2006, Geoecology)

Mikhail Borisovich Shilin was born in 1957 in Leningrad (the former name of St. Petersburg). In 1980, he graduated with honours from the Biology and Soil Faculty of Leningrad State University with major in "Biology – Zoology – Hydrobiology". For 10 years he had worked at the Hydrographic Service of the USSR Navy, taking part in several ocean voyages. Since 1990, he has been working as professor at the Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU) after getting his Advanced Doctor degree in Geoecology in 2006.

He has written more than 300 papers including 10 monographs and 15 textbooks (in English as well). Hirshi Index 10; Number of references – 425; number of publications (in English) – 100 (on ttps://elibrary.ru).

Mikhail Shilin’s scientific interests are focused on the problem of assessing the vulnerability of coastal marine ecosystems. Since 2006, he has been the head of the Russian sector of the Environmental Commission of the Central Dredging Association (CDA). Being one of the experts of the State Environmental Expertise of Rosprirodnadzor for the North-Western Federal District of the Russian Federation, he promoted environmental safety of the sea port construction projects of the Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Bronka port (Leningrad Region) and Sabetta port (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug).

From 2013 to 2014, he was the Research Director of the cross-border cooperation programme “Russia – Southern Finland” “Environmentally friendly port”, recognized as the best programme of 2014. The same year he was the Head of Education and Science of the Russian Federation grant “New approaches to assessment of the biodiversity of the Russian seas and management of marine resources taking into account modern climatic and anthropogenic impact”. From 2019 to 2022, he was the Research Director of the cross-border cooperation programme “Russia – Southern Finland” “Getting ready to face the cross-border challenges”.

Professional education in Ecology is Mikhail Shilin’s main pedagogical interest. Together with M. Fyodorov, the Academician of the Russian Academy of Science (RAS), Mikhail Shilin co-wrote “The Concepts of Education in Ecology at Technical Universities”. He has developed and is teaching his courses in “Applied Marine Ecology”, “Dangerous Environmental Factors”, “Geoecology”, “Basics of aquaculture”, and “Biogeography”. Two Russian and four foreign postgraduates successfully presented their theses on Geoecology under M. Shilin’s guidance.

Mikhail Shilin was awarded the Diploma of the Ministry of Education and Science (2015), was commended by the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg (2005) and the Committee of Nature Management, Environmental Protection and Safety of St. Petersburg (2016). He is an honourary employee of the RSHU (2014).