Megagrants program will receive new impetus

According to a TrV source close to the Ministry of Education and Science, the ministry plans to soon announce its intention to conduct a competitive selection in 2012 of the most successful projects of the first wave of the megagrant competition (winners of 2010) to continue their financing. This became possible thanks to the decisions of the Russian Government on the development of the “megagrants” program (PP No. 531 of May 30, 2012). In addition, in 2012-2013, a competitive selection of new projects and extended projects of the second wave will be carried out.

To continue the megagrants program, the Grants Council under the Government of the Russian Federation will be completely updated. The Ministry of Education and Science, together with state academies of sciences, associations of universities and research centers, and public associations of scientists, is already forming a new composition of the Council. The terms of the competitions are planned to be announced in October 2012, after the Council meeting.

The results of the competition for the renewal of the winning projects of 2010 are planned to be announced in December 2012, and the results of the competition for new grants - in March 2013.

Decisions on the extension of state funding for existing megagrant projects will be based on the results of an international examination of scientific and educational achievements, organizational and financial sustainability of the created groups. In addition, the impact of projects on the overall development of the universities implementing them and the Russian research community as a whole will be assessed. When selecting new megagrant projects, as before, the main emphasis will be on international expertise.

Formal conditions for participation in competitions approved by Regulation No. 531:

1. Competition for renewal

A prerequisite for making a decision on extending state support for existing projects is the attraction by universities of extra-budgetary funds for the second year after the extension. Their size must be at least 100% of the amount of state support allocated within the framework of the competition for the first year of project extension.

2. Competition for new projects

Since 2012, not only Russian universities, but also scientific institutions of state academies of sciences and state scientific centers of the Russian Federation have the opportunity to participate in the competition. A mandatory condition for participation is the attraction of extra-budgetary funds in the amount of at least 25% of the Government grant. Grants for new projects will be allocated in the amount of up to 90 million rubles. for each project for three years with a possible extension of funding for 2 years.