M.S. Poliakov Institute of Geotechnical Mechanics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is the country's leading mining research institution. It was founded in 1967 to solve fundamental problems of mineral mining in complex geological and mining conditions – coal, ferrous, non-ferrous and precious metal ores, diamonds, non-metallic materials, and other minerals. The main scientific research areas of the Institute include: - properties of rocks and rock masses, their fracture, and stress-strain state control; - scientific foundations of mining processes, equipment and technologies for the extraction and processing of natural and technogenic mineral resources; - physical, technical, and geological foundations of coalbed methane extraction technologies; - processes and technologies of energy conversion of coal and coalbed methane, operational parameters and structure of energy complexes; energy saving and reliability of mining operations; - geoecology of natural resources and technogenic environments, technogenic impact, and scientific foundations for a regional system of environmental monitoring and forecasting the ecological consequences of mining and processing enterprises' operations at the stages of their design, construction, and exploitation.