Evgenii Altynbaev: ‘We have well-prepared specialists’

Could you please tell us more about the practice? What are students engaged in during practical classes at the Kurchatov Institute? 

Today, since internship on the territory of the Kurchatov Institute is included in the curriculum, the University prepared a relevant request to send students to B.P. Konstantinov Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute of the National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute". Teaching and research are closely linked in the master’s programme in physics at St Petersburg University. Many of the Centre’s specialists are part-time lecturers at the University. Thus, research underpins the teaching and learning process at the University. Two days a week, students and their supervisors, i.e. employees of the Institute, are engaged in research activities. In summer, students and supervisors continue to work in a free format. Students come to the Institute for two weeks, as part of the vacation period. For example, one student stayed at the Institute for two summer months. 

Currently, we have at least two types of practices that are implemented with the University. Firstly, research activities, classes with a supervisor, and preparation of a graduation project. Secondly, laboratory classes and work using the equipment of Institute. We provide transportation to and from the Institute. 

What are the areas of study of practice at the Institute? Does the Institute offer topics for term projects and graduation projects? 

St Petersburg University offers academic programmes and areas of study that are implemented by the Department of Nuclear Physics Research Methods. Among them are three areas of study within the framework of the degree programme "Physics": "Neutron and Synchrotron Physics"; "Quantum Magnetic Phenomena"; and "Nuclear Physics". The Department also offers the master’s programme "Condensed Matter Physics at MEGA-Science Facilities". It is a separate academic programme in two languages and aimed primarily at external applicants from other universities. 

The Institute also has close ties with other departments of St Petersburg University. For example, we have good relations with the Department of Solid-State Physics and Department of Solid-State Electronics. This is how we cooperate with the University in physics. Yet, the Institute also collaborates in chemistry. This has its peculiarities. 

This year, we offered topics for bachelor’s and master’s graduation projects. St Petersburg University and the Institute have mutually supportive relations and the Institute, in its turn, primarily prepares students to help us in our activities. In the 2023/2024 academic year, master’s and bachelor’a students in the field of ‘Physics’ were offered the following topics: "Study of layered double hydroxides"; "Study of the main characteristics of the TNR neutron reflectometer"; "Optimisation of the use of tantalum targets for medium and high power neutron sources"; "Determination of metal content in biological, geological and technogenic samples by X-ray diffraction with a radioisotope source"; and "Modelling of a four-circle single crystal diffractometer". 

How many people do practice at the Research Centre every year? What are the semesters that students start internships? 

We mostly work with master’s students. Yet, under certain conditions, we can also hire fourth-year bachelor’s students. Yet, during the practice, they must be present at the Institute, and this is possible only in the last months of the semester or during the summer period. If they are enrolled in the master’s programme, practice is included in the curriculum. If they do not succeed to be enrolled in the master’s programme, they should try once again in the next year on the recommendation of their supervisors. During this time, they can work at the Institute. 

Since 2012, when we intensified relations between the University, five to ten people a year have been regularly doing practices at the Institute. They are intended for those who are studying in specialised academic programmes. Our practices are also for students in nuclear physics, high energy physics, and quantum mechanics. Thus, the overall number of students increases. We have a subdivision that is responsible for managing the teaching and learning process and supervises the doctoral studies at the Institute. The subdivision is also responsible for distributing graduates for doctoral studies at the University or at the Institute. Students make a decision where they would like to continue their research activities: at the University or at the Institute. 

In your opinion, what is the today’s approach to student practice? What is your primary task? To teach future specialists how to apply knowledge in their work, to help them acquire practical skills, or, perhaps, to prepare future employees for the Institute? 

Currently, science is experiencing a serious staffing shortage. In this regard, being committed to developing research skills in students without real-life practical research projects seems simply unthinkable. Having failed to learn how to work with the laboratory equipment during the practice is not crucial. What is more important is to be motivated. If you are motivated, you will return, learn and continue working in the team. 

We also have a personnel training centre. It is set to attract specialists from other cities and universities to work at the Institute. There are quite a lot of such students. We try to develop their practical skills, but also show them how science works. We motivate them to pursue a master’s programme at St Petersburg University so that they receive good education to work at our Institute. This ensures that they will occupy their niche upon graduating from the master’s programme and perform a volume of work without having to undergo additional training. 

How many of your trainees subsequently find employment with your Institute? Are there any graduates at St Petersburg University among your employees? How do you evaluate their work? 

All our students work at the Institute. During master’s studies, they can work at the Institute and in future, if they proceed to doctoral studies, they continue to work at the Institute. Yet, in the period from 2012 to 2022, many students opted for doctoral studies at universities and institutes abroad. Our students easily passed entrance examinations for postgraduate positions abroad. 

There are a lot of graduates at St Petersburg University at B.P. Konstantinov Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute of the National Research Centre ‘Kurchatov Institute’. It was opened as a subdivision of the Ioffe Institute and has always been St Petersburg’s institute. There are therefore a lot of employees who are the University graduates, and they occupy different positions. In 2012, we opened an educational area to prepare specialists for the Institute. Today, we solve our personnel problems by hiring these graduates. We have specialists for the Institute’s research infrastructure at the international centre for neutron research based on the high-precision nuclear reactor PIK. The department has prepared about 40 graduates of the master’s programme, about 15 of them are successfully working. As a result, we have well-prepared specialists who, upon graduating from the master’s programme, can solve current problems. Almost all graduates of the department are those who lead research groups. Importantly, they become leaders of the groups incredibly quickly. Two or three years after graduating from the master’s programme, they immediately begin to head the teams of five to ten people. 

In what other areas do you think you can cooperate with St Petersburg University?

 As I have already mentioned, management in science and research is a problem. I do not know how this problem can be resolved quickly, but it is clear that we need to discuss opportunities for joint academic programmes between various faculties of the University at the request of such employers as B.P. Konstantinov Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute of the National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute". Today, thanks to the efforts of Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Kurchatov Institute, the Federal Scientific and Technical Programme for the Development of Synchrotron and Neutron Research and Research Infrastructure for 2019-2027 has been initiated. It is also set to create a serious scientific infrastructure in the Russian Federation. We need to form a centre of gravity for scientific thought and attract specialists from other fields to effectively use the research infrastructure. 

The management problem is a big problem. The Kurchatov Institute is a large organisation. It administers complex knowledge-intensive processes and projects. Nevertheless, we need to prepare a new generation of staff for a specific infrastructure task. According to modest estimates of the Kurchatov Institute, the Institute is planning to receive 1,200 specialists over a 10-year period. 

Could you share your memories of how you studied at the University? What did you learn and how does this knowledge help you in your work? 

I am very grateful to the University for teaching me how to work with a large amount of information. When preparing for the examination periods, I had to systematise, process, and comprehend a vast amount of information in a short period of time to take the exams. Definitely, we were wrong when we did not scrutinise all the materials that we had to. Yet it is vital that the University equipped us with the skills to solve problems of any complexity during any period of time. I spent the first four years of my bachelor’s studies at the Department of Quantum Magnetism, which is now the Department of Nuclear Physics Research Methods, where I work. In 2012, the Department of Neutron Synchrotron Physics was opened, where I pursued the master’s programme and which was headed by Mikhail Kovalchuk. Later, it merged with the Department of Nuclear Physics and Quantum Magnetism into the Department of Nuclear Physics Research Methods. The Department is 11 years-old. If you are enrolled in the master’s programme, you will proceed to employment at the St Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics. While working at the Institute, I completed doctoral studies. In 2021, I was asked to teach at the Department. I therefore took part in a contest for the position of an assistant lecturer under the programme for supporting talented youth and began to supervise practical classes for students studying at the department at B.P. Konstantinov Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute of the National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute". 

In your opinion, what are the qualities that distinguish the University students and graduates of other higher educational institutions? 

The fact is that this is the University, not a physics-technical institute. In my opinion, the University instils skills to process large amounts of information, the ability to find information, sublimate it into some valuable extract and use it in further work. We have fundamental university education and therefore can easily switch from one type of activity to another. As far as I know, today in Russia there are no special academic programmes in management in science and research. This is what we really lack now. Regulatory norms run deep into science and require appropriate performance evaluation benchmarks. Yet scientists have never been engaged in this sphere, which raises some questions. Apart from the publications, we have to take into account the possibility of commercialising the results of research activities, their practical value, applicability, assess the possibility of implementation and engage in negotiations with industry to ensure that these research results are used in practice. You will not find specialists of this level among graduates. 

It will take years of work and experience to go into administration and management. Yet it is the University graduates who cope with this task best of all. The University education is the key. Graduates of physical and technical institutes, in my opinion, are high-calibre specialists in narrow areas who are valuable as personnel; they can lead a department. Yet managing a department is quite a different matter.