Since October 2022, Dr. Elshan Abdullayev, who leads Khazar University's Petroleum Engineering Department, and Dr. Valentina Erastova, a staff member at the Chemistry Department of the University of Edinburgh (UK), have been investigating the interaction between clay minerals and organic substances.

With the aim of enhancing scientific collaboration between Khazar University and the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Valentina Erastova was invited to Khazar University from February 21-23, 2024. During this collaboration, seminars were conducted by the scientist on the topics of  Let’s talk about dirt: from environmental sportive materials of Earth to biosignatures in Space" and "Searching for the origin of life: Computational Chemistry My Time And Space Traveling Tool".

Students from the Petroleum Engineering and Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Departments participated in these seminars.