On 12-14 April 2016 ECOIMPACT participated in the International Scientific Conference “Nature, Theory and Modelling of the Atmosphere – Hydrosphere – Land-Surface System” in Saint-Petersburg, Russia and held its Progress Meeting 1. The Conference Programme featured two project-related presentations by A.V. Belotserkovsky and S.N. Stepanenko on “Modernisation of environmental education in response to grand challenges” and by A.L. Umnov on “Distributed systems for environmental monitoring within the concept of the Internet of Things”. The Conference offered an opportunity for the ECOIMPACT staff to meet with top-level researchers and educators in geosciences.