41 research projects of St Petersburg University receive grants from the Russian Science Foundation
The Russian Science Foundation (RNF) has announced the results of its grant competition for fundamental and exploratory research by small individual research teams. St Petersburg University ranked second among Russian universities in terms of the number of grants awarded, with the Foundation supporting 41 projects from the University.
The RNF competition for grants to small individual research teams aims to support research in priority areas, foster the development of new topics for researchers, and encourage the formation of research teams, including interdisciplinary collaborations. The total number of research team members together with the principal investigator should be from two to four people. Each winning group will receive funding of up to 1.5 million roubles per year to develop their research.
The grants from the Russian Science Foundation to small research teams make it possible to test new ideas and form new teams.
Many large projects began as work within small research teams and evolved over time into developments of significant importance for countries worldwide
Sergey Mikushev, Vice-Rector for Research at St Petersburg University
Judging by the 2024 competition, the Russian Science Foundation awarded grants to 41 applications from St Petersburg University. These included 15 projects in the humanities, nine in chemistry, four in biology, three in Earth sciences, three in agricultural technologies, two in medicine, two in mathematics, two in engineering, and one in physics.
St Petersburg University has been among the leading recipients of grants from the Russian Science Foundation in recent years. In 2022 and 2023, St Petersburg University was the leader in the number of grants from the Russian Science Foundation: in 2022, St Petersburg University researchers received 112 grants, which is 5.5% of the total number of winning projects and the largest number of grants for one organisation. In 2023, the University maintained its leadership in this contest of the Russian Science Foundation: scholars from St Petersburg University received 70 grants, which is 5% of the total number of winning projects.
In the year of the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University, specialists from the University’s Research Park created a congratulatory inscription on the University’s badge to mark the 10th anniversary of the Russian Science Foundation. The thickness of the letter lines in the inscription did not exceed 10 nanometres in most areas, and the entire inscription could easily fit on the surface of an erythrocyte.