12 main questions about megagrants
Everything you wanted to know about grants-"dvestidvadtsatniki"
What is a megagrant?
How did megagrants appear and how to get them?
What amounts are allocated for them and how to spend them?
How are the laboratories that have received state funding developing?
Sergey Salikhov, Director of the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, answered the questions of the Attic.
– What is a megagrant?
– This program of the government decree, which was adopted in 2010, for the first time began to allocate grants for scientific research. And the volume of these grants was up to 50 million rubles. At that time it was a fantastic volume, unique in its kind. None of the funding instruments that existed as of 2010 provided a grant of this size. Accordingly, now it is impossible to find the author of this, but the phrase "megagrant" was thrown in by someone. It has not just taken root in relation to the size of the grant and characterizes not only it, but the entire program as a whole. Rather, the number of the resolution, which was often used before (everyone said: "dvestidvadtsatniki", "resolution No. 220"), is now less well known than the terms "megagrant" and "megagrant program", which have taken root and are very successful, in my opinion.
– Sergey Vladimirovich, for how long is a megagrant issued?
– The grant was designed for three years, with a possible extension for another two years. Accordingly, 50 million of funding was provided for the first three years and in the first year of the extension.
– What amounts are being allocated today?
– Now it is 30 million per year for three years and the possibility of extension with financing of 30 million for these two years (in the first year). In addition to the amount of funding, the terms of extension and co-financing from the host organization have changed significantly. If earlier it was required to attract mandatory extra-budgetary funding, that is, funds that were not received from budgetary sources, now this restriction has been lifted. And any co-financing of an organization can be accepted as co-financing under a megagrant.
– What changes have appeared in the megagrant program this year?
– For each organization, the presence of a megagrant gives a certain point of growth for a certain scientific laboratory, which, in turn, is a point of growth for this organization. And here the interest of the organization in co-financing, in what conditions it provides for this laboratory, shows how successful this project will be for this organization. We know examples when many of the host organizations (scientific and universities) provide co-financing at a faster pace and in large volumes. This is also understandable. Thus, they show their interest in that particular scientist who comes to work for them.
– How long will this program last?
– Now in the state program "Development of science and technology" this program is planned until 2020. And the necessary budgetary funds have been allocated under this program until the designated date. These are budget funds for the "fifth wave", the results of which were summed up in Kazan, in September 2016. And also for the "sixth wave", which we will hold in 2017. But before the start of the conference "Science of the Future", held in Kazan, there was a meeting of the winning scientists or owners of the megagrant with the President of the Russian Federation. In particular, the issues of extending this program beyond 2020 were discussed at it. And according to the information that is available, the president supported the initiative of scientists. We are confident that this program will be extended further on behalf of the President.
– How to get a megagrant?
– The main condition that must be fulfilled in order to get a mega–grant is that it must be a really scientist who brings a very serious world-class science to a university or scientific organization. The creation of a laboratory implies the involvement of both young people and people who already work in a scientific organization or at a university in this laboratory. The scientific value of the project, first of all, is the main and necessary condition for this mega-grant to be supported. Starting with the "fifth wave", we have seriously extended the procedure for selecting and accepting applications in time. Thus, we have given the opportunity to collectives, scientific organizations, universities to approach the search for potential holders of mega-grants more responsibly. Those who can bring the greatest benefit to the development of the university and to the scientific organization.
– Who selects the winners?
– The main governing body of the program is the Grants Council, which is appointed by order of the Government of the Russian Federation. This Grant Board includes 21 people. These are the most serious scientists actively working in their field. They, in fact, select and control the process of executing the program at all its stages. This is not only a matter of selecting a megagrant, but also issues related to the extension of the megagrant. The Grants Council monitors the ongoing execution of this project. There are field visits to laboratories. During the duration of this project, one of the members of the Grant Council, who is actually responsible for his choice and for the recommendations he gave to the members of the council, comes to each of the laboratories that is organized. I think this is a generally accepted world practice when outstanding scientists who have achieved serious results each in their field carry out the selection and make a decision on the possibility of granting other research.
– What are the selection criteria?
– The program is different in that it organizes a very serious scientific examination. And first of all, the scientific side of the project is dominant when making a decision (to provide or not to provide a megagrant to this project). Actually, in this program, the expert procedure is arranged in a multi-stage way. This is also the expertise of Russian scientists – each incoming application is checked by two Russian experts, and necessarily by two foreign experts. The summation of the assessments of these two experts and their integral characteristics are then submitted to the Grants Council. The application is closely considered both from the point of view of the scientometric indicators of the scientist, and from the point of view of the real results that this scientist has achieved in past periods (if, for example, we are talking about applied works in the megagrant). And then the members of the Grant Council analyze all kinds of information on this project, including scientific novelty, and how breakthrough this mega-grant is in its field of sciences, how much a scientist is able to create... or how prepared the organization is to receive this scientist in terms of forming a team that will work on this mega-grant. But, nevertheless, among the whole set of parameters that exist to evaluate each application, of course, the scientific component plays the most important and, I would say, the dominant role.
– Is it necessary to create a new laboratory by receiving a megagrant?
– By laboratory we mean a much broader concept – it is the formation of a team at a university or a scientific organization that works on this topic. If we are talking, for example, about mega-grants in the field of humanities (say, sociology or history), then the mega-grant in archaeology implies the creation of a laboratory. But there are also megagrants in languages and literature when you need to assemble a working team. And calling it a "laboratory" or "group" is already a personal matter for every scientist. The essence of the megagrant does not change from this.
– What are the conditions of the megagrant report?
– These conditions are very simple. When a scientist writes an application, he determines for himself those scientific results in the form of patents, the number of articles, attracted grants, some other results of scientific and technical activities that he expected or would like to receive during the validity of the megagrant. And accordingly, in the future, the Grants Council simply evaluates whether the scientist fulfills the obligations or goals that he has set for himself in the process of working on the megagrant.
– How many laboratories have already been created under this program?
– Now, as of September 2016, 160 laboratories have been created. It was "four waves" of 40 laboratories each. In September 2016, the results of the "fifth wave" were summed up. Thus, the total number of laboratories will be 200.
– Which scientists have returned to Russia from abroad thanks to the megagrant program?
– You know, quite a lot of scientists have either taken root in Russia, or have seriously increased their time in the country. I can only give a few vivid examples. For example, the "megagrant of the first wave" is Alexey Vinogradov, who had a megagrant at Tolyatti University. The project, by the way, was devoted to an interesting topic related to the analysis of the strength of materials. Now this laboratory, which has already had three years of its main time and two years of extension, is working independently, having very good contracts with both Avtovaz and Russian Railways to develop technologies for such quality control. Alexey Vinogradov himself stayed in Russia as a result of this program and even joined the Science Council under the Ministry of Education and Science, which we have created in order to provide support or advice on various issues related to the development of science and technology.
Another such striking example is Artem Oganov's megagrant, which was performed at the Institute of Physics and Technology. Now Artem also lives permanently in Russia, works both at MIPT and at the Skolkovo Institute. This is a person who has completely assimilated and lives in our country, developing in various places the scientific projects that he has. As another precedent, we can mention Konstantin Agladze. He has a fairly successful biomedicine laboratory at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. There are many joint projects with Novosibirsk and with our other research centers. His megagrant was dedicated to growing heart tissue. And also now very serious results have been obtained on this megagrant. Konstantin is a full professor at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, works with students, lives in Russia. There are a lot of such examples.
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11.10.2016