RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF FOUNDATION DATED
DECEMBER 17, 2009
A meeting
of the Board of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (“RFBR”) held on
December 17, 2009 summed up RFBR's performance in 2009 and approved a budget
plan for 2010. The Board noted that, during the past period, the Russian
Foundation for Basic Research (the "Foundation" or "RFBR"):
- worked to organize,
fund and follow up projects of 2007-09, and is currently in the process of
expert merit reviews of applications submitted to the main 2010 competition;
- held competitions
under the program “Young Scientists Mobility”;
- worked to implement a program of regional competitions based on
joint funding of research projects by the Foundation and relevant regional
administrations and also merit-reviewed projects submitted to take part in
regional competitions of 2010;
- the geography of
RFBR’s regional competitions was expanded, cooperation with 29 foreign partners
from 22 countries was effectuated; 912 applications were merit-reviewed,
accepted for funding were 604 research projects by joint research teams; 181
research projects and 43 joint seminars were funded based on the results of
earlier held competitions;
- accepted for review
were 4,100 applications for Russian researchers to participate in foreign
scientific events; 2,560 applications were funded, including 1,081 applications
by young scientists;
- for the first time
was announced and held together with CNRS and DFG a competition for tripartite
Russian-French-German seminars;
- in 2009 the
Foundation joined a multilateral program in chemistry initiative by the
National Science Foundation of the USA;
- the Foundation took
part in the preparation of an international competition planned for 2010 to be
organized by the science foundations of the G8 nations;
- an agreement was
reached for the Foundation to continue its participation in the Baltic states
BONUS project;
- negotiations were
held with the Helmholtz Association (Germany) on RFBR’s participation in the
organization of an international multilateral competition in the XFEL
interstate research project;
- an agreement was
reached on holding in 2010 -- and for the first time ever in Russia -- a
meeting of the heads of the leading basic research foundations of the G8
countries.
- within the
framework of support for oriented interdisciplinary research arranged by the
Foundation, bilateral competitions began to be held jointly with the National
Science Council of Taiwan, the National Research Foundation of Bulgaria and the
National Science Foundation of South Africa in areas agreed upon with the foreign
partners. Similar proposals were made
to the National Science Foundations of the United States and China;
- negotiations were
held on establishing cooperation, and signing relevant agreements, with the
National Science Foundation of South Africa, the National Research Foundation
of Bulgaria, the National Research Foundation of Korea, the National Research
Council of Italy.
- developed actively
were competitions with the CIS states which included a new competition held
jointly with the State Foundation for Basic Research of Ukraine and a
tripartite interregional competition -- Russia / Byelorussia / Ukraine; 563 new
applications were submitted under competitions with the CIS states in 2009;
- a program to
support projects to organize Russian and international scientific events in the
territory of the Russian Federation;
- a competition for
projects to conduct oriented basic research was held as was a competition for
projects to conduct basic oriented research coordinated with tasks of federal
agencies, departments and state academies;
- a competition for
projects to organize expeditions and field research in 2009;
- applications to
take part in a competition for publishing projects began to be accepted
continuously while the results of the competition are announced twice a year;
- a competition for
publishing projects of 2009 (2nd stage) was held as well as a
competition for publishing projects of 2010 (1st stage);
- as part of the
program titled Electronic Research Library of RFBR was arranged subscription
for 2010 to the electronic information resources of 9 foreign publications.
The Board
of the RFBR does hereby resolve as follows:
1. It was resolved
that the work of the Foundation for the period from March 30 to December 17,
2009 should be approved and that the effectiveness of the operations of RFBR on
supporting the most important scientific research in all areas of basic
research should be noted.
2. It was resolved
that the organization and holding of a competition for projects to conduct oriented
basic research in important interdisciplinary subjects and of a competition for
projects to conduct oriented targeted research in the interests of Federal
agencies and departments should be approved.
3. It was resolved
that the high importance of the Foundation's policy to organize and hold
regional competitions for the development of scientific research in Russia’s
regions should be noted.
4. It was resolved
that the signing of new agreements and supplementary agreements with the administrations
and regional governments of the Irkutsk, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Lipetsk, Ryazan,
Sverdlovsk, Smolensk and Tula regions; the Krasnoyarsk and Perm Krays; the
Republics of Karelia and Mariy El, Udmurtia; and with the Far Eastern and Urals
Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences on joint competitions for
projects should be approved.
6. RFBR’s efforts to
hold competitions under existing agreements with foreign partners and also to
prepare and enter into international agreements about scientific cooperation
should be approved;
7. It was resolved
that the conclusion of cooperation agreements with the National Research
Foundation of South Africa, the National Research Foundation of Bulgaria, the
National Agency for Scientific Research of France, the National Research
Foundation of Korea (South Korea) on holding a multilateral competition jointly
with the research foundations of the G8 nations (the National Science
Foundation of the USA, the Research Council of Britain, the German Research
Foundation, the Council for the Promotion of Scientific Research of Japan, the
National Agency for Scientific Research of France, the National Council for
Research / National Council for Scientific and Engineering Research of Canada)
should be approved.
8. It was resolved
that RFBR’s efforts to organize and hold competitions in the framework of
existing agreements with organizations and departments of the CIS states and
also its efforts to prepare new agreements and also the signing of agreements
and supplementary agreements with the Ministry of Education and Science of the
Republic of South Osetia and the Academy of Tajikistan should be approved.
10. The activity of
the Foundation carried out within the framework of membership in the
International Association of Academies of Sciences (IAAS) should be approved.
11. It was resolved
that RFBR’s efforts to support and develop its scientific electronic library in
2009 should be approved.
12. It was resolved
that the final distribution of funding by type of activity for 2009 and the
distribution of funding by type of activity for 2010 based on planned funding
for the activity of the Foundation as per draft budget law of the Russian
Federation should be approved.
18. It was finally
resolved that the proposed distribution of funds by knowledge area under
Initiative-Based Research Projects and Other RFBR Competitions for 2010 should
be approved.
Chairman of the RFBR Board V.
Ya. Panchenko