St Petersburg University expert at the Future Technologies Forum
Irina Timofeeva is Professor at St Petersburg University, Member of the Coordinating Council for Youth Affairs in Science and Education of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for Science and Education, winner of the Russian President’s Prize in Science and Innovation for Young Scientists. She has taken part in the flash session "Creating the foundation of the future", i.e. one of the key sessions of the 3rd Future Technologies Forum. The forum focused on the development of high-tech technologies in Russia, advanced scientific developments and science-driven and science-based solutions.
The main theme of the forum was "New materials and chemistry". The forum brought together more than 1,800 participants from 19 countries in Moscow. The session "Creating the foundation of the future" focused on the Russian Science Foundation and projects implemented with its support. According to Andrei Fursenko, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Science Foundation, chemistry and new materials are catalysts for a scientific and technological breakthrough for all science as a whole. Every year, 15% of all applications supported by the Foundation are projects in the field of chemistry and materials science, and among the researchers working on these grants, more than 70% are early-career researchers under the age of 39.
Among early-career researchers is Irina Timofeeva, Professor at St Petersburg University. For many years, she has been actively developing new designer solvents that are used for various analytical chemistry tasks. She has also been developing green analytical chemistry methods that are applicable to both household and industrial settings. Currently, a research team under her leadership is implementing a new project titled "Search, synthesis, and application of the latest generation of extraction solvents to create new effective methods for the chemical analysis of complex samples".
Science is the foundation of our future and the future of the next generations. Just as we use the results of the works of Dmitri Mendeleev, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Wilhelm Röntgen, the list goes on and on, so will the results of the works of contemporary scientists be used in future. The stronger the foundation laid today, the more confident and safer tomorrow will be.
Irina Timofeeva, Professor at St Petersburg University, Member of the Coordinating Council for Youth Affairs in Science and Education of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for Science and Education, winner of the Russian President’s Prize in Science and Innovation for Young Scientists
St Petersburg University is among the top three universities in the Russian Federation in terms of the number of grants received from the Russian Science Foundation. In 2024, University staff and students participated in more than 400 projects. They cover the main priority areas of the Scientific and Technological Development Strategy of the Russian Federation and the Concept of Scientific and Technological Development of St Petersburg (in terms of regional grants). The projects include the most advanced interdisciplinary research on the creation of new materials for energy, high-temperature protective coatings for aviation equipment and membranes based on biodegradable polymers, the development of drugs for targeted drug delivery and agents for photodynamic cancer therapy to name just a few.
"Scientists are builders who lay the foundation of the future building, lay it brick by brick, using new high-tech materials, new methods, additive technologies, methods for determining various components in the air of future living spaces. Business sector brings these materials to the construction site so that the builders-scientists make the building brick by brick. The Russian Science Foundation is a powerful construction company that 'supports the belts' of scientists. Together, they create in symbiosis the buildings of the future, i.e. an earthquake-resistant building that will be safe housing for us, our families and future generations," said Irina Timofeeva
The event is a platform for discussions between the academic community, business, scientific foundations and government bodies. During the sessions, leading and early-career researchers presented the results of their research and discussed the problems of their implementation in production. Experts drew attention to the importance of mutual understanding between science and production, the need to develop a series of youth contests, which will preserve the diversity of scientific fields, the continuity of scientific schools, and will preserve unique specialists and the diversity of the scientific landscape.
The forum programme also included more than 30 business programme sessions, the scientific conference "Materials of future technologies", business sessions on the introduction of advanced developments into economic circulation, and an exhibition of achievements of Russian organisations in the field of new materials and chemistry.