St Petersburg University wins five-million rouble grant

St Petersburg University has once again confirmed its status as one of the leaders in research and education, deservedly receiving high praise at the federal level and a significant grant for further development of student scientific potential and implementation of promising projects. As part of the contest for grants, the University’s Student Scientific Society received the maximum amount of support in the amount of five million roubles.

A total of 286 applications were submitted to the contest. St Petersburg University is one of 40 Russian universities that will receive financial support.

In addition to promoting the best student research teams, the contest also contributes to the expansion of interregional and inter-university relations, as well as to the development of information and project interaction in the field of youth science. The Student Scientific Society therefore plans to use the grant funds to organise a wide range of scientific events. 

Pavel Gorbunov is Deputy Chairman of the Student Scientific Society and Head of the School of Early-Career Researchers. According to him, the activities of the Student Scientific Society are quite vigorous and extensive, as they cover various areas of work. Thus, one of the most important achievements of the Student Scientific Society this year was the creation of an interdisciplinary student journal "Vestnik of the Student Scientific Society of St Petersburg University. Series: Sciences of Society", which includes publications on political science and law, as well as articles on psychology and philosophy.

Supporting student scientific societies is one of the key tasks of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education’s programme to stimulate young people’s interest in scientific activities within the framework of the Decade of Science and Technology. The contest is held for the third time and highlights the continued interest and growing attention of talented students to developing science.

Now, the immediate plans of the University’s society include the following: the holding of the All-Russian Forum of the Student Scientific Society of St Petersburg University to discuss the activities of student scientific societies at the level of the Northwestern Federal District and Russia; and the organisation of several interdisciplinary conferences and tournaments, such as the Kurbatov Readings, the 16th All-Russian Scientific Conference of Students and Young Scholars "November Readings", the 14th International Natural Sciences Tournament, and others. Additionally, each event will be accompanied by a collection of abstracts indexed in the RSCI (Russian Science Citation Index) in order to recognise the scientific activities of early-career researchers. 

For the first time, an international school for early-career researchers of the Student Scientific Society of St Petersburg University will be held. There, students will have the opportunity to learn about the career of a scholar from bachelor’s studies to scientific activity, and to communicate with the country’s leading specialists. Additionally, it is planned to organise a contest of student research papers, which will be divided into two categories: evaluation of outstanding published research projects by young scientists and evaluation of interdisciplinary projects to be held in the autumn. The winners of these contests will be entitled to participate in the 3rd International Conference of the Student Scientific Society of St Petersburg University with a plenary report. 

"St Petersburg University is a real forge of future scholars. It is therefore very important to organise the path of students into science properly and centrally. Winning the contest for grants means only one thing: we will continue to develop the Student Scientific Society, create unique content and bring science to a wide audience," emphasised Pavel Gorbunov, Deputy Chairman of the Student Scientific Society.