Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
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The 5th Congress of Young Scientists featured a series of key events featuring the leadership and leading scientists of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. The university's experts moderated and spoke at discussion panels on current scientific issues, including strategic partnerships, science diplomacy, global competitiveness, and the transformative role of artificial intelligence.
SPbPU First Vice-Rector and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vitaly Sergeev presented a successful model of collaboration at the "ObninskTech" session: "Partnership Creating Opportunities." In his speech, he outlined the university's mechanisms for effective collaboration with industrial companies and government agencies to address technological challenges.
We've moved away from abstract interaction. The mechanism we've built is project-oriented collaboration. We form consortia of scientists, graduate students, and engineers to address specific technological challenges facing industrial partners. The government's role in this model is to create regulatory and infrastructural "lifts" that allow for rapid progress from R&D to mass production. This is the formula for partnership that creates opportunities, commented Vitaly Sergeev.
Oleg Rozhdestvensky, Head of the SPbPU Office of Technological Leadership, participated in the discussion "Is Postgraduate Education Industrial or Production-Based? A New Concept for Training Highly Qualified Personnel?"
Participants discussed a large-scale overhaul of scientific training aimed at achieving technological sovereignty and ensuring Russia's scientific and technological leadership. The creation of new tracks in postgraduate studies that integrate fundamental science with industry challenges and enable the training of researchers capable of generating technologies, including those applied in practice. In this context, the speakers discussed how science and industry interact, the criteria used to differentiate postgraduate tracks, the changing dissertation defense procedures, and what makes the training attractive to future researchers.
Oleg Rozhdestvensky spoke about SPbPU launching a pilot industrial postgraduate program in 2025. As part of this project, a network agreement and a letter of intent were signed with PAO Tekhpribor. In his speech, the speaker highlighted key features of the postgraduate program, such as the presence of two supervisors: "The supervisor's job is to select a relevant topic and implement the developments, and practical experience should be valued above formal academic credentials."
In his speech, Oleg Rozhdestvensky focused on the issue of intellectual property and working with confidential information.
This is a stumbling block we still have to overcome. The key value of industrial postgraduate studies is building a foundation of mutual trust and shared achievements with the partner with whom we are launching the track, the speaker noted.
Polytechnic University's achievements in technological leadership will also be showcased in a new podcast series. "Aerobatics"Filming for the project began at the Congress of Young Scientists in Sochi. Oleg Rozhdestvensky, head of the university's Office of Technological Leadership, presented the university's experience.
International scientific and educational cooperation is also developing. Maxim Zalyvsky, Head of the SPbPU Project Office, moderated the discussion "Russia-Africa: Opportunities for Applied Research Projects," which focused on the practical aspects of implementing joint programs with African countries.
The university's achievements in this area are significant: SPbPU not only coordinates the work of the Russian-African Network University consortium but also serves as the lead implementer for developing a higher education transformation concept for its partners. The university actively works to export Russian educational standards, developing and adapting programs to the needs of African countries.
We see enormous potential in the synthesis of fundamental science and applied research. It is precisely these projects—from artificial intelligence to agricultural technology—that become a bridge for a long-term and mutually beneficial partnership between Russia and Africa," emphasized Maxim Zalyvsky.
The panel discussion "Global Competitiveness of Science: How to Ahead of the Curve?" addressed the positioning of Russian science on the global stage. Professor Irina Rudskaya, Director of the Gazprom Neft Scientific and Educational Center for IT and Business Analysis, presented her expert opinion: "The key metric in the new talent race is adaptability. Strategic investment in this skill allows economic systems to more effectively convert imbalances and crises into growth opportunities. Victory will go to those actors who focus on developing social intelligence, cognitive flexibility, and resilient institutions capable of rapid transformation."
The lively discussion, "Academic Supervisor: Boss, Coach, or Educator?" focused on the transformation of the mentor's role in today's scientific environment. Maria Vrublevskaya, SPbPU Vice-Rector for Human Resources Policy, participated.
A scientific supervisor is a triad: a scientist, a manager, and a mentor. It is this focus that enables a young scientist to successfully implement their research projects and objectives, noted Maria Vrublevskaya.
Ivan Zhdanov, head of the seismic project within the KNTN-3 program "Priority 2030," and Dmitry Bogdanov, director of the Gazpromneft-Polytech Scientific and Educational Center, spoke about practical cases of AI application in the oil and gas industry and the university's educational programs.
The speakers presented interim results of the development of AI engineering in oil and gas exploration. Particular emphasis was placed on the integration of intelligent systems into scientific processes.
"The Transformer architecture and neural network models dramatically accelerate the interpretation of geological data and improve the accuracy of digital field models," said Ivan Zhdanov.
AI is a catalyst that not only opens up new research opportunities but also transforms educational pathways, preparing specialists to work with the technologies of the future, concluded Dmitry Bogdanov.
Experts emphasized that it is the synergy between the Polytechnic University's fundamental science, applied research, and education that creates the foundation for the development of domestic technologies.
Furthermore, the Polytechnic University's stand showcased an interdisciplinary panorama of scientific research, demonstrating the convergence of various fields of knowledge. Young Polytechnic University researchers and invited speakers presented to participants of the 5th Congress of Young Scientists how fundamental developments in quantum artificial intelligence and spatial data processing are integrating with humanities research, forming a holistic ecosystem of scientific solutions.
Lilia Talipova, a senior lecturer at the Institute of Geosciences and Information Systems (ISI), presented a paper titled "Spatial Data for Scientific Research." The expert explained how spatial data allows us to see science "on the map"—to understand not only what is happening, but also where and why. It opens up access to satellite images, terrain models, and sensor data, transforming complex processes into visual stories. It's a tool that makes research more accurate, deeper, and more engaging.
Nikolai Ushakov, a professor at the Higher School of Physical and Computer Engineering and a leading researcher at the Fiber Optics Laboratory, presented a paper titled "Quantum Machine Learning. When Will We Get a Quantum ChatGPT and Why?" He analyzed the fundamental advantages of quantum computers over classical ones in solving complex computational problems.
The speaker focused on the prospects for the development of quantum computing and the resources required to achieve an advantage over existing large machine learning models: Quantum machine learning opens up fundamentally new possibilities for solving computational problems inaccessible to classical systems, but its practical implementation requires overcoming fundamental technological barriers.
Maxim Novikov, a senior lecturer at the Higher School of Social Sciences, presented his study, "Government Borrowing in the Post-War USSR: Economics, Efficiency, and Emotions." Using a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, he demonstrated the economic impact of government loans from 1946 to 1957 on Soviet citizens' budgets, the specifics of public reactions to these measures, and deviant behavior during campaigns.
Studying government loans in the post-war USSR through an interdisciplinary lens allows us to identify not only economic mechanisms but also their direct impact on everyday practices and the emotional state of citizens, emphasized Maxim Novikov.
Ekaterina Alekseeva, a leading researcher at the New Technologies and Materials Scientific and Technical Complex at the Institute of Metallurgical and Metallurgical Engineering, head of educational programs, and associate professor at the Higher School of Advanced Digital Technologies at the Central Institute of Metallurgical and Metallurgical Engineering, raised the pressing question: "Why do innovations take so long to reach the market, and how can they be accelerated?"
The speaker shared insights about barriers to commercializing developments and ways to overcome them: Reducing the time between scientific development and its market entry requires creating effective institutional bridges between the research environment and the real sector of the economy.
Also at the Congress of Young Scientists, the Association of Young Scientists and Student Scientific Societies of the Northwestern Federal District presented a project aimed at fostering dialogue between science and society. The "Lecturer Database" is an open platform that will help universities, museums, and other venues find speakers, and scientists gain new opportunities to promote their research.
The initiative addresses two key issues: organizers often lack contacts with scientists willing to discuss their work in accessible language, and the researchers themselves don't always know how to reach interested audiences. The new database will serve as a search and interaction tool for them.
The platform will allow you to filter lecturers by scientific disciplines, presentation topics, and geography, saving time in selecting the right candidate.
"The demand for high-quality scientific content is growing, but the infrastructure for its distribution is still not systematized," explains Maria Ganapolskaya, Chair of the Polytechnic University's Student Research Council. "Our goal is not just to connect with others, but to create a functioning ecosystem where the organizer will find a competent speaker, and the scientist will find their audience."
Among other things, the results of the Advanced Research Foundation's open competition were announced at the Congress. Anton Smirnov, a graduate student at St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, won with his project "Digital Avatars for the Northern Sea Route." He received preferential treatment for inclusion in the Advanced Research Foundation's talent pool, as well as the opportunity to implement his projects in accordance with the foundation's regulations as a commissioner of relevant research, forming the necessary cooperation and subsequently implementing the results.
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