23 September 2013

Volnoe Delo Oleg Deripaska Foundation and the Moscow State University (MSU) announce the start of the application process for the contest for talented students, postgraduates and young scientists of the MSU. The application closes on 15 October 2013.

The contest for students, postgraduates and young scientists under 40, established by Oleg Deripaska, has been annually held since 2006. Over 550 MSU students have received grants for their projects.

Since 2011, the competition has been judged by independent experts including international scientists who thoroughly examine every application.

The participants receive a written feedback from the board of experts, it has greatly increased the contest’s popularity and credibility. In 2012 the number of participants increased by 28% year on year.

The contest aims to encourage talented students to carry out research in the critical fields of scientific and engineering disciplines. To be eligible to compete, students must submit monography, articles or series of articles, chapters from the publications or multi-author books, copyright certificates, patents, textbooks or workbooks published during a calendar year, preceding the year of the contest. The publication can be submitted by the author of a group of authors not exceeding three people or by an MSU professor. The documents should be sent to tsikalovamarina@gmail.com, n_ex@rector.msu.ru by 15 October 2013. After the application is submitted, it’s put into electronic database.

The applications are assessed according to their scientific value. In 2012, a total of 378 expert studies of 182 projects were carried out during the selection process by 275 international experts. All of them highly praised the quality of the research.

After the studies, the expert commission determines a long-lost of works. Last year 124 projects were selected by the commission. Then the Organizing Committee of the contest, headed by the MSU rector Victor Sadovnichiy, picks up the winners. The prize money are allocated by the Oleg Deripaska Volnoe Delo Foundation. The winners receive a cash prize. No less than 10% out of the overall number of the winners are represented by the MSU postgraduates or students.

In 2012 a total of 101 projects by 122 authors were awarded the grants. Another 23 projects and their authors, who made it to the final, were awarded runners-up certificates without grants.

89 projects (out of 101) were backed by the experts for their high scientific value. Among them are 32 studies in physics, 24 works in biology, 17 scientific works in chemistry, 12 projects in math, three studies in geosciences and one project in astronomy. More information on the contest www.expertise.msu.ru/?q=node/9.