About the author

About the author of this website

Matti Masing (MM), „Pioneer of the society“ was born in Tartu, Estonia in July 1953.

He was educated as a biologist in Estonia and Russia, and got his PhD in October 1990, the topic: „Bats of Estonia: current status of populations and ecological grounds of protection.“

Soon after becoming a PhD scientist, the scientific institute in which he worked as a scientist doomed – science was gradually moved out as so-called „politicians“ (office workers) took over the command. After some years of struggle between scientists and office workers this institute was finally closed in September 1996. Thus, MM, one of the best experts of small mammals and other terrestrial vertebrates in that part of Europe was „thrown on the street“, without a penny in the pocket and with no possibility to find a job as a scientist or an expert of animal conservation.

MM has been jobless till today. However, he has managed to establish his own NGO (Sicista Development Centre, in 1998) where he acts as a natural scientist and leader of this NGO. He has survived through several harsh decades struggling both with Ice-Age-like climate and for minimum resources of money to stay alive. Because of this constant struggle for life, he has had naturally no real possibilities to work as a scientist.

But, against the odds, he has still been able to publish some books, among them a monograph on Estonian mammals (1999, in English), another monograph on artificial caves as important hibernation sites of bats in Estonia (1990, in Russian), and a manuscript of a book „Pisiimetajad“ (Small mammals) which he published on a website (2004, in Estonian). Before „social Ice-Age“ suffocated natural sciences in Estonia in the 1990-s, MM had written and published a book on Myotis-bats living in Estonia, the first ever monograph dedicated to genus Myotis (1984, in Estonian).

Before the final collapse of the „scientific“ institute in which MM worked until 1996, he had an opportunity to use one of the few personal computers available in the office. He could use it mainly during nighttime when this equipment was free for use. So he used this computer to tell about his experience about the situation with natural sciences and nature conservation in Estonia, and to advertise his ideas on Open Society. The latter ideas were partly borrowed from George Soros who had recently awarded him a grant of 500 USD, among hundreds of other poor scientists struggling for survival all over the previous Soviet Union.

After having been "thrown on the street" in September 1996, the only possible way to contribute to the society with his special knowledge and experience was probably to release an electronic newsletter. So, between 1996 and 1997 he released eight issues of Looduskaitse Teataja, being almost the only author throughout. As he found no support for his doings, and no co-authors to the newsletter, there was no meaning to continue in the same way. Quite obviously, the time was not ready for a large-scale advertisement of the ideas of Open Society, knowledge-based nature conservation and interest-based world.

After 1997 MM has released a number of different websites. Throughout the last decades he has also been an active author in both science-related and society-related electronic media.

As an agile person who deeply admires spending time outdoors, MM has carried out scientific research based on extensive fieldwork through many decades. He has visited several European countries, and has made observations of wild animals there. Together with his students, fellow-colleagues and friends (Yrjö Siivonen and Terhi Wermundsen from Finland, and Kazimieras Baranauskas from Lithuania) he founded Livonian Bat Group of Travelling Scientists at Koknese (Latvia) in May 2004 (Eptesicus, 2005). In March 2012 he founded Bats-in-Towns Team, and established an educational website on this topic: http://bats-in-towns.blogspot.com/

Now, at the end of March 2013, Sicista Development Centre – an NGO that stands for the principles of Open Society, and acts as a free member of „interest based world“ – approaches its 15^th anniversary.

After several decades of waiting human society to change, during this period having published thousands of topical letters and articles in electronic media, MM rises the following question: „Is the world ready for a real Open Society today?“

Story told by a Pioneer,

Tartu, 26^th March 2013