Skip to main content

St. Petersburg Mining University approved the provision on scientific grants for doctoral students

конференц-зал
© Форпост Северо-Запад

The rector of St. Petersburg Mining University, Vladimir Litvinenko, acquainted the doctoral students of the university with the provisions of the order approving the new grant "Scientific priority: Doctor of Sciences." It was established to support the most talented and promising scientists who are engaged in research as part of their doctoral thesis preparation.

"I hope that this year the competition committee will select at least 30 candidates for this scientific grant with different terms, from 1 to 5 years. This year we plan to use the university's extra-budgetary funds for these purposes amounting to 300 million rubles," Vladimir Litvinenko addressed the audience.

He specified that the grant, in particular, can be used for financial support of the members of temporary research team formed by the applicant; payment of expenses for internships in local and foreign universities; purchase of necessary equipment and consumables; compensation of expenses for publication of articles in highly ranked scientific journals.

Competitive requirements contain specific criteria that applicants for grants must meet. For example, they must be the authors of at least two patents for inventions, utility models, industrial designs or certificates of state registration of computer programs. In addition, the number of their publications in peer-reviewed editions for the last 5 years must be at least ten, the citation index according to the personal profile in the Scopus database must be at least twelve, and the Hirsch index must be at least eight. The degree of readiness of the dissertation at the time of submission must be at least 50%.

As the rector explained, a scientist can apply for a grant only if he or she has "a serious scientific record in the field of theoretical and practical research, including the presence of high-quality reliable scientific results obtained through experiments in the laboratory and production conditions."

НЦ переработки
© Форпост Северо-Запад

"The new grant is yet another tool to help create the most comfortable environment possible at the Mining University for obtaining new fundamental scientific knowledge. Only highly qualified personnel are capable of generating this knowledge and transforming it into a source of competitiveness for our country. They are the basis of the scientific and educational potential of the university. The new grant is aimed at raising the status of a candidate of science to the level of "Doctor-Researcher." This will allow him/her to receive material support, provide priority access to the most in-demand laboratory equipment and production tests, allow him/her to implement his/her developments in production more quickly, and publish the research results in prestigious journals. In general, it will contribute to the creation of a flexible academic environment, which will enable the scientist to combine basic work and research in the preparation of a doctoral thesis," explained Vladimir Litvinenko.

He also noted that specific bilateral commitments, an annual academic report from the grant holders and coordination of the project by the rector, leading to the creation of an environment of trust, should be the key to success and results. The applicants, as the rector emphasized, "understand the responsibility, have the opportunity to assess their own potential and prove it in practice." At the same time, the requirements for the thesis itself, the results of the experiments that are conducted as part of its preparation, as well as their implementation in life are much higher than the standard ones.

НЦ переработки
© Форпост Северо-Запад

"We consciously invest in our own development. After all, by developing science, we develop our country: Russia. This postulate should be remembered by everyone who applies for a grant. Your thesis should be a high quality scientific product, the creation of which is aimed at increasing the sustainability of socio-economic development of our country", - summed up Litvinenko.

It should be reminded that earlier the Mining University told about the measures aimed at improving the quality of postgraduates.

Encouraging PhD Students to Pursue Science, What Size Scholarship Would Suffice?