He answered their questions and gave out reward certificates on January 11th.

The Rector congratulated everyone with the beginning of the new year. Chairman of the Association of Young Scientists Mikhail Varfolomeev then presented the results of a poll of young employees, of which there are currently about 1,300 at the University.

As he said, the majority of the respondents expressed their satisfaction with KFU’s infrastructure and equipment. However, they are somewhat concerned about the generational change at the University.

The Rector answered that it's necessary to actively involve talented individuals straight from the student bench. There are different measures to popularize the profession, including financial stimuli, such as startup support, grants, and scholarships. Grants of the President of Russia, the seven winners of which were celebrated yesterday, are among such stimuli.

Dr. Gafurov also reminded that the University has started working on opening its own dissertation councils, which will also bestow PhD degrees. This will help increase both incoming and outgoing researcher mobility for young people.

He added, “The important thing is that your projects and research should be in demand. The government invests in major fundamental research, and the business will see your potential if you suggest practical solutions and competitive products. We have precedents when some lab teams have already reached the breakeven point and can finance their own purchases and salaries.”

Accommodation is another pertinent problem. The University has rent facilities which are available to young employees, and they also proposed to put forth such initiative on a provincial level.

Automation of workflow was among the discussed issues. The participants of the meeting confessed that a full shift to electronic document turnover would significantly ease their paperwork burden in many aspects. The Rector said that such work is already ongoing within the University 4.0 initiative (education-research-industry-digitization). In that spirit, he called for integrating IT and research projects more tightly.

Later, fourteen people were awarded the Rector’s cash prizes for their work, and others received letters of appreciation. Vice-Rector Danis Nurgaliev partook in the ceremony.