Talalay acquired Drilling Engineer (1984), Ph.D. (1995) and Doctor of Engineering (2007) degrees at the
Saint Petersburg Mining University of Russia, where he has also worked as Professor and Chair of Department of Descriptive Geometry and Engineering Drawing. Talalay was a guest Researcher in the
Niels Bohr Institute of Copenhagen University, Denmark (1998-1999). In 2010, Talalay was invited to work at Jilin University within the framework of the Chinese state program
“Attracting 1000 highly qualified specialists”. Later, Talalay became the Director of the Polar Research Center of Jilin University. Since 2009, Talalay is a member of Technical Assistance Board, U.S. NSF Ice Drilling Program (IDP) of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA. In 2023-2024 Prof Talalay was the leader of the Chinese-Russian drilling project to study the
in-situ dynamics and conditions at the bed of the Northwestern
Princess Elizabeth Land,
East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The project succeeded in penetration through the 545 m thick ice and recovered the unique 0.48 m bedrock sample. Talalay is a member of Steering Committee of SCAR Groundwater Action Group. Talalay is the author of over 200 publication, 90 patents, and 20 books, book-chapters and textbooks, most notable of which are
Mechanical Ice Drilling Technology,
Thermal Ice Drilling Technology, Geotechnical and Exploration Drilling in the Polar Regions. and Mining and Construction in Snow and Ice. == Expeditions in Antarctica and the Arctic ==