Grants and grants

In the ten years of the program in Russia opened more than 270 new laboratories, the share of young scientists under the age of 39 years is an average of 56 percent. The owners of megagrants published more than 6 thousand of articles in scientific journals, registered about 1,5 thousand patents for inventions and scientific discoveries. Using the obtained results has written more than 120 monographs, books, re-created or significantly upgraded more than 1,100 educational courses.

the Program is in Russia’s leading researchers. For example, laboratories in our country headed by Nobel laureate George Fitzgerald Smoot, Nobel peace prize Jean Jouzel and Ricardo Valentini, and Gerard Moore received the Nobel prize in physics in 2018, already being the head of the laboratory-grant programme. Last year, the competition among scientists and projects amounted to more than 10 applications for one grant. Scientists from the United States received 41 applications from scholars of Italy – 34 applications, Germany – 27 applications, UK – 24 applications.

To participate in the contest you must fill out an application on the website. The results of the contest will be defined till December 15 of this year.

One of the most important requirements of the program – the participation of regional universities and institutions. For example, last year a grant was won by the team of scientists from the Physical technical Institute of the Crimean Federal University. They create and study new materials nanophotonics for efficient management of characteristics of optical radiation using a magnetic field and to control the spin and the magnetization of the material with light.

– This is a new means of information transmission, telecommunications system in which the transmission speed of information, processing it, will be much higher than what we have now, – says the candidate of physical and mathematical Sciences Maxim Yavorsky. – Therefore, a bottleneck in modern technology – big data processing, big data, supercomputers, artificial intelligence. All this requires a vast array of information to quickly be able to transmit, store and process. One of the areas of research in the framework of megagrant associated with the processing of a new type of qubits for quantum computers. There are hundreds of options, but all have their drawbacks. We will try to offer another variant of implementation of the qubit, which is maybe something better than peers.

a visiting scientist in the project is Igor Belotelov is a recognized leader in the field of functional materials for quantum devices.

And the Saint Petersburg Institute of macromolecular compounds, RAS under the program of mega-grants in 2014 has established a new laboratory experimental study and modeling of polymeric composites based on advanced thermoplastics for industrialx application.

– Our study has both fundamental and practical importance, – told correspondent “RG” the head of laboratory Sergiy Larin. In total, project implementation took five years, funding amounted to 120 million rubles for five years. One of directions of work is the implementation of results in industry. Thanks to the help of one of the leading scientists in this field – Jose Kenny, University of Perugia, Italy, who was a project Manager in the framework of megagrant, we have established contacts with shipbuilding companies interested in commercializing our products.

in addition, now the Institute is implementing two projects under the program of mega-grants. In 2016, our scientists became winners of the competition with the project “Development of biocompatible materials based on chemically modified cellulose” under the guidance of the leading scientist Mikko Karttunen, and in 2017, the Institute has attracted the Moscow scholar Sergei Sheiko to work on the architectural programming of polymeric materials that mimic living tissue.

Evaluating the effect of the program of mega-grants, Minister of education and science of the Russian Federation Valery Falkov said in an interview to “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” that it is possible to build effective communication between field scientists and a new laboratory became the training ground for our science.

– the Share of youth in the laboratories of the program is very large, some up to 80 percent. And, for example, two of the three young scientists, who are this year’s winners of the prestigious presidential award in science came because of “magaganda” laboratories, – said the Minister.

Over the years the program has become a hallmark of Russia in the sphere of international scientific-technological cooperation. It promotes the integration of our country in the global environment, acquired a great importance not only from a scientific point of view and foreign policy.

there is no doubt that thanks to the program of mega-grants in Russia from abroad have returned in large numbers of Russian scientists, having authority and laboratories in the world most famous research centers. By the way, they note that the program allowed them to establish multidisciplinary research teams bringing together researchers and graduate students in different fields. They can lead full scientific production cycle from basic research to implementation in practice at the level of the world leading scientific centers.