KarRC RAS Learned Council met on March 30. Making the report, Olga Bakhmet reminded that the Karelian Scientific Center is guided in its work by the Program of Basic Research in the Russian Federation in 2021-2030.

Currently, research at the Center is carried out by 379 scientific workers, almost 40% of whom are scientists younger than 39 years old. There are 58 Doctors of Sciences and 219 Candidates of Sciences among the researchers. Four doctoral (for Cand. Sci. degree) and one post-doctoral (for Dr. Sci degree) dissertations were successfully defended last year. In addition, 61 doctoral students are being trained at KarRC RAS.

The leader named some of the key results of scientific activities presented previously at the Learned Council end-of-year sessions by directors of institutes. The full version of the report will soon be openly available in a special section of KarRC RAS website. In addition to the results of individual institutes, Olga Bakhmet reported on the implementation of a key innovative project of national significance. Its goal is to create a unified national system for monitoring climate-active substances. This work involved employees of several scientific subdivisions: Institutes of Biology, Forest Research, Applied Mathematical Research, Northern Water Problems, and the Department for Multidisciplinary Research.

As part of the national project "Science and Universities" the fourth youth laboratory - for greenhouse gas monitoring - was established at KarRC RAS. This national project also envisages renewal of instrumentation facilities. In 2022 the Center received 67.9 million rubles for these purposes.

– Renewal of instrumentation facilities is not applied automatically. We must fulfill quite a few requirements to be granted the extra funds: firstly, we must demonstrate high performance in scientific research, ensure that the “May” Decrees are fulfilled, and contribute co-funding. We do comply and so continue to get the funding," said Olga Bakhmet.

Speaking of projects, Director General pointed out the increase in the number of Russian Science Foundation grants awarded to our scientists. Researchers at KarRC RAS are implementing 35 RSF projects, including five co-financed by the region, which proves the republic is interested in scientific developments.

As part of the international agenda, KarRC RAS has concluded a cooperation agreement with the National Committee on BRICS Research. The first regional conference of the Committee will be held at the Karelian Research Center RAS in June.

Science communication is active in mass media, social media, and other online formats. People come to KarRC RAS to visit the Museum of Precambrian Geology of the Institute of Geology, Archaeological Museum of ILLH, Abnormal Wood Collection of the Forest Research Institute, and the new Museum of Applied Environmental Research opened last September.

Altogether, research in 2022 was carried out on 246 themes. 1039 scientific publications were released, including 599 articles. Most of them were published in journals included in the leading international scientometric databases Web of Science and Scopus.

– We can thus conclude that the main targets of the state assignment for 2022 were achieved, and KarRC RAS has successfully coped with the obligations assumed, - Olga Bakhmet summarized.

As the pending problems the director indicated the need to upgrade the vessels for integrated research of lakes Ladoga and Onego and the White Sea, to renovate the research-and-education clusters, and to do a major repair of some buildings.

The Center's development prospects for the near future are in line with the state program of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation. It is largely targeted at achieving practical results.

– The main message is that while continuing to gain weighty fundamental knowledge on the one hand, we must also design and create new knowledge-intensive products to be quickly implemented in the economy and the social sphere, - KarRC RAS Director General emphasized.

The report was followed by questions and comments from the staff and leaders of scientific units. At the end of the discussion, members of the Learned Council approved the report on the results of scientific and administrative activities of KarRC RAS in 2022.