The competition for the best fundamental research projects in 2021, which was cancelled by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research due to the reorganizational processes, will soon be announced by the Russian Science Foundation. Financial support of the projects chosen according to the results of the competitive selection will be provided in the planned timeframe—beginning in 2022.
Support of basic research projects by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) (competition "A") will be continued by expanding the competitive activities of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) in the priority field “Conducting fundamental scientific research and exploratory scientific research by individual research groups”. The RSF plans to increase the number of winners, and to introduce a new type of "step-by-step” project supported by the RSF, providing for the development of new ideas, the formation of plans, and the determination of research methods and approaches. At the same time, the increased size of grants and project terms will provide grantees with the opportunity to travel to conferences, conduct expeditionary and field research, gain access to unique facilities and scientific equipment, publish scientific papers, and pay for the publishing of the research results directly as part of the project without needing to seek additional funding.
As the Minister of Science and Higher Education and Valery Falkov noted, one of the main principles of the merger of the Russian Science Foundation and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research is the consistency of operations and the use of the "best practices" of the two foundations:
"The volume of grant funds allocated to researchers will not decrease after the merger of the RFBR and the Russian Science Foundation. Moreover, the RSF will increase the work that the Russian Foundation for Basic Research was conducting in different regions. All of these issues were discussed in detail with the heads of both foundations.”
The head of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science also emphasized that the RFBR will fully meet the already assumed obligations for financial support of existing projects, including their monitoring and expert review, and the continuity of grant support will be ensured.
In the process of unifying these structures, the continuity of the main activities of the RFBR for financial support of fundamental scientific research based on the principles of granting to scientists the right of freedom of creativity, choice of directions, and methods of research will be preserved.
A statement by the RSF has been published on the Foundation’s official web-site.
Adopted from materials of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science