In 1955, after graduating from Leningrad State University with a degree in mycology, Golubkova joined the Komarov Botanical Institute, where she worked under the supervision of Vsevolod Savich.[1] In the 1960s, she studied specimens which had been retrieved during various Soviet expeditions to the Antarctic; her research on these samples led to multiple scientific publications and the identification of several new species.[2] She also participated in specimen-collecting expeditions to the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan,[1] and to the steppes, taiga, and desert of Mongolia,[3] and in 1978, she was a contributor to volume 5 of the Handbook of Lichens of the USSR.[1]
In 1982, Golubkova was promoted to director of the Institute's Lichenology and Bryology Laboratory,[1] a position she retained for over 20 years.[3] In the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, she arranged for the publication of volumes 6 through 10 of the now-renamed Handbook of Lichens of Russia, of which she served as editor-in-chief.[1]
In 2000, Golubkova was awarded the Acharius Medal for lifetime achievements in lichenology.[4]
^ abcREPORTS: Nina Sergeevna Golubkova, by Mikhail Andreev; in the International Lichenological Newsletter; volume 42, number 1; page 16-17; published October 2009; retrieved August 6, 2014
^Acharius Medallists, at the International Association for Lichenology; retrieved August 6, 2014
^Kondratyuk, S.Y.; Karnefelt, I.; Thell, A.; Elix, J.A.; Kim, J.; Jeong, M.-H.; Yu, N.-N.; Kondratiuk, A.S.; Hur, J.-S. (2014). "A revised taxonomy for the subfamily Xanthorioideae (Teloschistaceae, Ascomycota) based on molecular phylogeny". Acta Botanica Hungarica. 56 (1–2). doi:10.1556/ABot.56.2014.1-2.12.