Dozens of projects aimed at supporting novice researchers are implemented at SSU. We asked a few questions to young scientists who are already successfully doing research. The material is dedicated to Elena Rybalova, who successfully presented her PhD thesis in October 2023:
‘Since the first year of my bachelor's course, I have begun to take part in research at the Department of Radiophysics and Nonlinear Dynamics, and already in the second year I realised that I wanted to stay here and solve tasks of nonlinear dynamics. To do this, accordingly, it was necessary to enroll to the postgraduate course. In addition, I understood that the postgraduate school would allow me to become a full-fledged professor at a higher school.
Since then, I have devoted myself to the tasks of nonlinear dynamics, including stochastic dynamics. The world around us is a continuous nonlinear dynamics, subject to noise, so my topic is relevant and very interesting to me.
The main advantage of postgraduate studies is the opportunity to combine study and work at the department, as well as the availability of various financial support for postgraduates.
As a member of the scientific staff of the department, I have been participating in the implementation of the grants from Russian Science Foundation since 2018. Today I am the executor of the RSF grant No. 23-72-10040 (headed by Andrei Bukh, Associate Professor of the Department of Radiophysics and Nonlinear Dynamics) and the main executor of the RSF grant No. 20-12-00119p (headed by Galina Strelkova, Chair of the Department of Radiophysics and Nonlinear Dynamics).
In the second year of her bachelor's degree, I published her first scientific article. And as a really significant achievement, I can mention the successful presentation of my PhD thesis, which took place on October 20, 2023. At the moment, more than 30 articles have already been published in journals included in the international databases Scopus and Web of Science, 15 reports have been delivered at international conferences, and I have a Hirsch index equal to 11 (according to Scopus).
Now my research is focused on computer experiments using simplified models of real systems, for example, the nervous system. However, my goal is to study more complex models, and maybe even real biological systems, to explore the possibility of suppressing unwanted brain activity via external influences of a special shape and intensity.’
Interview by Tamara Korneva, photos from the interviewee’s archive
Translated by Lyudmila Yefremova
