On June 15, at the final project session under the Priority 2030 programme, there were summed up the results of the three-day visit of the experts of the Social Centre. At the last meeting, the SSU staff team presented projects on synchronising the parts of the university development programme.

The participants were asked to speak about their expectations and impressions of the meeting. The university staff commented on the valuable experience they had gained communicating with their colleagues and the experts of the Social Centre.

SSU Rector Aleksei Chumachenko noted that the three-day work of the university staff with experts helped find new ideas and include young scientists in the discussion. ‘Last year, the experts gave a very good impetus for certain changes. Surely, the same will be this year. Such events are especially important for our youth – young scientists, who, fortunately, we have a lot and who are becoming not only our hope for a better tomorrow, but are also supporting us today.’

Head of Priority Projects and Programmes Elena Yelina noted the interest of the SSU staff in working with the specialists of the Social Centre team. ‘Thanks to you, we began to perceive our daily duties not just as a series of routine steps, but as a kind of major process. During these three days, we have heard scientific stand-ups, interactive performances, and other interesting forms of topic presentations performed by our scientists. We need to implement many of the ideas.’

‘Science is, first of all, creativity. It is impossible to limit this process. I support collaborations and interdisciplinary work. SSU is developing fundamental and applied research, which cannot be separated from each other. Being representatives of different scientific schools and nature, we have been communicating in the same language for these three days,’ she said

Dean of the Faculty of Psychological, Pedagogical, and Special Needs Education Tatyana Firsova spoke about her impressions of the strategic session. ‘All five groups used different words, but talked about the same principles. This demonstrates that our corporate thinking is not local and point-based, but systemic. We have seen that classical research directions dominate at SSU, which develops the attractiveness of the university inside and outside the region.’

According to Chair of the Department of Dynamic Modelling and Biomedical Engineering Anatolii Karavayev, thanks to the experts, some key issues identified during the stratsession could be solved at an early stage. Assistant of the Department of Open Systems Physics Olga Guslyakova noted that it was useful for her to develop management skills in research while working with the specialists.

Timur Fatkhudinov, a member of the Social Centre team, Chair of the Department of Histology, Cytology, and Embryology, the Institute of Medicine, RUDN, highly appreciated the contribution of SSU staff to the session. ‘You are an extremely strong university in terms of fundamental research. And you have a very strong team. The atmosphere of the university strongly influences you – you make very good speeches and presentations. By the third day, we have managed to discuss some problematic points very well. I hope that serious work will be done on these issues. Saratov is a hospitable city, where I will definitely return.’

Head of the Laboratory of Structural Analysis and Engineering of Membrane Systems, Associate Professor of the Department of Biophysicists, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Associate Professor of the Department of Biophysics, MIPT, Ivan Gushchin highly appreciated the teamwork of the SSU staff. ‘Every business trip, I wonder if we can do something useful. At your university, we have managed to accomplish this – many problematic positions have been identified and discussed, together we have had ideas to solve them. There was a large number of active and motivated young people at this session. You actively participated in all the discussions, not a single representative of the team was left without attention.’

Director of the Project Office, Derzhavin Tambov State University, Marina Medvedeva shared her impressions of working with the staff and scientists of Saratov State University. ‘My expectations have been fully met – you are engaged in real, trustworthy research. It was unexpected to see such a large number of interested young scientists who have actively participated in the discussions. Also, it is worth noting the friendly, family atmosphere that prevailed during these three days. This happened thanks to the extraordinary talent of your team. One of the SSU values is people, and it have been repeatedly noted by our Moscow colleagues when they were talking about your university. We managed to find many problematic issues. I hope that you will continue to work on their solution with the same team.’

In the end, the meeting members took the photo.

Read more about the project-to-strategy sessions of Social Centre in SSU here:

• Priority 2030: Experts of Social Centre Visit University;
• Experts of Social Centre Visited SSU Research Centres;
• Experts of Social Centre Learned about SSU Strategic Projects as Part of Priority 2030;
• Experts of Social Centre Discussed SSU Development;
• SSU Staff Presented Projects on Synchronising Parts of University Development Programme.