Professors and deans of St Petersburg University receive awards from the Russian Professorial Assembly
The awarding ceremony of the national prizes of the Russian Professorial Assembly took part at the Professors Forum 2021. The recipients of the high award included professors, directors and deans of St Petersburg University.
In 2021, awards for the best scientific and pedagogical workers were presented by Vladislav Grib, Chairman of the Professorial Assembly, and Petr Kucherenko, State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education.
Dear colleagues, I would like to wish you success in your hard work and express my sincere gratitude for bringing the light of knowledge to the masses in the difficult times of the pandemic.
Petr Kucherenko, State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education
The recipients of the Russian Professorial Assembly Award in the Professor of the Year category are: Professor Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Head of the Department of the Problems of Convergence in Natural Sciences and Humanities; Elena Kazakova, Director of the Institute of Pedagogy; and Iurii Shcherbuk, Head of the Department of Neurosurgery and Neurology at St Petersburg University.
Accepting the award, Professor Tatiana Chernigovskaya said that it was an honour for her to be among her colleagues. ‘We are surrounded by a great number of people, and their future depends on our capability to be loyal to each other and to live in harmony. We are raising the next generation, and they are shaped by the people they communicate with,’ said Tatiana Chernigovskaya. ‘A person is born with their own genome, and then everything they hear, see and read is recorded in the neural network. So, a lot depends on all of us, and this is not as trivial as it sounds.’
‘We are all born with a neural network, but then it is life experience that builds it further on’: Tatiana Chernigovskaya gave an open lecture on the civilisation of books
Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Doctor of Biology and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education, heads the Institute for Cognitive Studies at St Petersburg University and is one of the leading specialists in cognitive sciences in Russia and abroad. She is a member of the Academic Council on the methodology of artificial intelligence and cognitive research at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was on her initiative that the first master’s programmes in psycholinguistics and cognitive research in Russia were opened at St Petersburg University. Tatiana Chernigovskaya is an Honorary Scholar of Higher Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
Elena Kazakova, Director of the Institute of Pedagogy at St Petersburg University and Professor at the University, is the author of more than 100 research papers on pedagogy and a holder of the Badge of Honour ‘For the Humanisation of the St Petersburg School’. Since 2016, she has been a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Education.
Professor Iurii Shcherbuk heads the Department of Neurosurgery and Neurology at the Faculty of Medicine of St Petersburg University. He is an active researcher in actual and priority areas of neurosurgery, organisation of health care and medical science. Iurii Shcherbuk is the author and co-author of 675 scientific works, including: 46 teaching and methodological manuals; 25 books; 15 monographs; seven tutorials; a textbook on neurosurgery; a reference book for neurologists; and four patents. Iurii Shcherbuk was awarded the honorary title ‘Honoured Physician of the Russian Federation’ for many years of fruitful professional and scientific and practical activities.
The winners in the Dean of the Year category were two representatives from St Petersburg University: Nikolai Skvortsov and Petr Iablonskii.
Dean of the Faculty of Sociology of St Petersburg University Nikolai Skvortsov is a member of the International Sociological Association (ISA), Vice-President of the Russian Sociological Association (ROSA) and Chairman of the Kovalevsky Russian Sociological Society. His academic interests include intercultural communication, comparative sociology, and ethnic and national problems. Nikolai Skvortsov is a recipient of the Medal of the Order for Merit to the Fatherland, 2nd Class, and the title of Honorary Worker of Higher Vocational Education of the Russian Federation.
The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of St Petersburg University is awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of St Petersburg
Petr Iablonskii is the author of over 500 scientific publications in leading Russian and foreign journals. These including 49 in foreign journals and 12 monographs and tutorials devoted to various aspects of thoracic surgery, pulmonology and phthisiology. It was under his leadership that innovative and complex lung surgeries were performed for the first time in Russia. Petr Iablonskii was awarded a diploma of the winner of the All-Russian competition ‘Physician of the Year’ in the nomination ’Best Surgeon’ in 2006 for successfully performing the first bilateral consecutive lung transplantation in Russia. In December 2007, by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he was awarded the honorary title ‘Honoured Physician of the Russian Federation’. In May 2021, Petr Iablonskii was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of St Petersburg.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Professorial Assembly and to share this award with the staff of the Faculty of Medicine of St Petersburg University. My deepest gratitude goes to my colleagues from the 11 faculties of the University, which trains the elite of Russian medicine. St Petersburg University has a strong area of medicine, and it is looking confidently to the future.
Petr Iablonskii, Dean of the Year winner
The national prize ‘Professor of the Year’ is awarded annually for outstanding scientific results in education and science. It can be based on: achievements in various fields of knowledge, from mathematics and physics to philosophy and psychology; contributions to environmental and nature conservation issues; advances in the development of information technology; or the popularisation of scientific knowledge. The Dean of the Year diploma is awarded for: outstanding results in managing a faculty, institute or university unit; and contribution to the development of a scientific field.
In 2020, the title of ‘Professor of the Year’ was awarded to St Petersburg University professors: Irina Shlik (Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care); Sergey Britvin (Department of Crystallography); Alexander Degtyarev (Department of Computer Modelling and Multiprocessor Systems); Nikolay Kuznetsov (Department of Applied Cybernetics); Vladimir Popondopulo (Deartment of Commercial Law); and Leonid Smorgunov (Department of Political Governance). Previous award winners include: Professor Alla Lapidus (Department of Cytology and Histology), Associate Director of the Center for Algorithmic Biotechnology of the Institute of Translational Biomedicine at St Petersburg University; and Pavel Musienko, Head of the Laboratory of Neuroprosthetics at the Institute of Translational Biomedicine at St Petersburg University and a senior research associate at the Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Click here to watch the plenary session and awards ceremony.
Also, as part of the Professors forum ‘Science and Technology in the 21st Century: Trends and Prospects’, a round table discussion on ‘The Role of Scientific Research in Improving the Quality of Education’ was held. The moderator was Marina Lavrikova, Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities at St Petersburg University. A recording of the broadcast is available here.