Professor Mikhail Ivanov introduced to UNESCO an idea of advanced training-through-research training courses in 1988. This idea was endorsed and the implementation of floating university cruises has been started by the UNESCO division of marine sciences. Since 1996 the programme is being implemented by the IOC. Ivanov was an organizer and a chief scientist of all 17 cruises implemented by now within the Training Through Research Programme in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, North and Central Atlantic. Under his leadership, the Programme initiated a detailed survey of giant carbon mounds on continental slopes and has contributed substantively to studies of ecosystems of deep water coral reefs. Pioneering studies of gas hydrates – a potential energy source of the future – have been undertaken as well as studies of deep sea sedimentary depositional systems and their processes of formation on continental margins. 16 international conferences have been organized to discuss the results of the studies. Over 1000 students and young researches from all around the world have been involved in these studies and received advanced training. Following his recommendations and advice the Programme is implemented now in the Baltic and Caspian Seas and in the Pacific. More