Elena Kukavskaya is a Senior Researcher in the Laboratory of Forest Fires, V.N. Sukachev Institute of Forest, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences – separate subdivision of the Federal Research Center “Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center SB RAS”, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
She received her Bachelor’s (2003) and Engineer’s (2004) honours degrees from the Siberian State Technological University (speciality – Forestry) and PhD in Biological Sciences (2009) from V.N. Sukachev Institute of Forest SB RAS (speciality - Forestry, forest fires, and fire-fighting). She spent one year (2010-2011) as a Fulbright scholar at the National Institute of Aerospace and NASA Langley, VA, USA.
Her research covers the areas of forestry, forest ecology, land cover/land use change, wildfires, and fire management. She is interested in exploring the interactions and feedbacks between climate change, wildfires, and various components of the Earth system. At present, her research interests are focused on characterizing fire impact on different components of forest ecosystems (stand, regeneration, ground cover, soil) and forest sustainability, estimating Siberian fire emissions and their uncertainties, as well as interactions of fire with anthropogenic activities. She has (co-) authored over 100 scientific publications including 4 books. She has over 15 different awards including Academician A.V. Zhukov Award of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Goverment Award for the outstanding scientific results improved social and economical development of the Krasnoyarsk region.
Research areas: boreal forests, Siberia, wildfires, fire ecology, fire effects, tree mortality, fire emissions