The II Congress of Young Scientists has ended at Sirius University. There we summed up the results of the first year of the Decade of Science and Technology, discussed the main results of the implementation of the plan for these ten years.
The Congress was attended by scientists of Saratov University: Head of the Office of Priority Projects and Programmes Maria Yerokhina, Associate Professor of the Department of Open Systems Physics Asel Adilova, Associate Professor of the Department of Physical Chemistry Arsenii Ushakov, Associate Professor of the Department of Optics and Biophotonics Irina Yanina, a researcher of the Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry Pavel Pidenko, senior researchers of the Remote Controlled Theranostic Systems Lab Olga Goryacheva, Oksana Maiorova, and Julia Svenskaya, a junior researcher of the same laboratory Polina Dyomina, Assistant of the Department of Innovation Ekaterina Prikhojdenko, and a postgraduate of the Institute of Physics Isabella Serebryakova. Professor of the Department of System Analysis and Automatic Control, SSU, Ilya Sysoyev represented the Saratov branch of the Kotelnikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
From December 1 to December 3, the Congress hosted more than 140 sessions, meetings and lectures on various aspects of the development of science in Russia. The business program included seven thematic tracks: "Big challenges and priorities of scientific and technological development", "Initiatives of the Decade of Science and Technology of Russia", "Components of scientific and technological sovereignty", "New space of international scientific and technical cooperation", "Science and Society: an environment of trust", "Lectures and workshops of leading scientists", "RNF School".
On the first day of the Congress, the Russian President Vladimir Putin met with young scientists. He noted that technological, industrial and even value sovereignty can take place only on the basis of fundamental and applied science. The President assured that the state will increase support to institutions that purchase domestic devices for scientific research.
The Russian Minister of Higher Education and Science Valerii Falkov said that the events of the first year of the Decade have become key: the vectors of science development have been identified, a huge step has been taken in popularizing scientific and innovative activities among all age categories of Russian residents. Almost 100 million people took part in these scientific events.
On the final day, the status of women in science and new opportunities of domestic technologies were discussed at the Congress venues, and recruitment for the Floating Universities program of the Russian Academy of Sciences was announced. A new system of evaluation of research work in Russia was announced. According to Valerii Falkov, the need for changes in this area has been brewing for several years, and the evaluation of research work should have an applied direction.
The program of the National Centre of Physics and Mathematics (NCPhM) is designed to solve the priority research tasks with the help of which it is possible to ensure the technological sovereignty of Russia. The creation of the centre is recognized by experts as one of the most important results of the first year of the Decade of Science and Technology. At the discussion of the Congress of Young Scientists, representatives of science and business formulated theses when the challenges of the time turn into opportunities for researchers and business.
SSU scientists shared their impressions about the work of the Congress. Maria Yerokhina explained why this event has become a key event for the scientific community. ‘Only when you find yourself inside here, you understand why the organizers call the Congress a key event. For any young scientist to come here is a great honor, a dream and a responsibility. But it's also a huge benefit. Top management of leading scientific foundations and narrow key leading specialists in various fields of scientific knowledge come here. In 3 days you can attend a series of top lectures. All this mosaic allows you to create an exhaustive impression of where Russian science and certain areas of strategic, technological development of the country are moving. It is super valuable to measure your understanding with the state trends declared for the development of the higher education and science system in Russia. I think this will help to correct the university's development programs correctly,’ Maria Yerokhina summed up.
The most vivid impression she called meeting with astronauts and getting in touch with their colleagues currently on the ISS Asel Adilova also remembered this part of the program. She asked one of the best questions to the heroes of the meeting and received a commemorative chevron of the Russian Cosmonaut Squad for it.
‘The Congress is a unique format of interaction between young scientists of the country. It allows you to meet with colleagues from other educational and scientific organizations and discuss interdisciplinary cooperation at different venues. A separate place in the Congress program is occupied by the RNF School. We were told about the aspects that project managers should pay attention to, as well as about the priority areas of research. I will also note the Our Lab project, which has its own website-a catalog of Russian equipment and consumables,’ Asel Adilova shared her impressions of the results of the Congress.
Associate Professor of the Department of Optics and Biophotonics Irina Yanina noted a rich program and a wide range of lecture topics. ‘This is a great platform for sharing the experience of people from completely different fields of knowledge. For example, I listened to a very interesting report about medicines of the XXI century: about what developments are being carried out in the modern world, what trends exist. We were told about nanotechnology, targeted delivery of medicines. In addition, you can find useful acquaintances and business partners here.’
A postgraduate of the Institute of Physics Isabella Serebryakova took part in the Russian-Iranian dialogue and presented the results obtained jointly by Russian and Iranian scientists – Multimodal study of optical parameters of the mammary gland and a model mouse mammary tumour ex vivo. The Forum has become a platform for exchanging views on topical issues of public life of the two countries, including in the scientific and technological sphere and education.
It should be recalled that at the Open Programme, which was held at the II Congress of Young Scientists, Head of the Office of Priority Projects and Programmes Maria Yerokhina delivered a report – Not a single RSF: scientific research as a grant for a socially significant project. One of the topics of the program was the support of Russian scientific journals. The discussion was led by a leading researcher at the Saratov branch of the Kotelnikov IRE of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor of SSU, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Izvestia VUZ. Applied Nonlinear Dynamics journal Ilya Sysoyev.
The Congress was attended by young scientists from 77 Russian regions, as well as guests from more than 40 countries. At the Congress venues, representatives of science, business and education discussed the main challenges of our time and opportunities for the development of research and scientific and industrial activities in Russia.
