Director of the World-Class Research Center “New Special-Purpose Materials” and the Center for Management of Scientific, Technological and Innovative Projects of Tomsk State University Alexander Vorozhtsov and Head of the Laboratory of Medical Alloys and Implants with Shape Memory Ekaterina Marchenko became members of the expert councils of the Russian Science Foundation. The expert council is formed by the decision of the senior management of the Foundation and includes doctors of sciences who have received public recognition for active and effective research activity. Currently, Alexander Vorozhtsov and Ekaterina Marchenko are the only representatives of Tomsk universities in the management structure of the Russian Science Foundation.
Head of the World-Class Research Center “New Special-Purpose Materials” and the Center for Management of Scientific, Technological and Innovative Projects, Head of the Research Laboratory of High-Energy and Special Materials of the TSU Faculty of Physics and Engineering Alexander Vorozhtsov became a member of two expert councils of the Russian Science Foundation. These are the Council for Regional Competitions and the Scientific and Technological Council.
The first determines the winners of tenders for projects that, together with the Russian Science Foundation and a qualified customer, finance a specific region.
The second – in the light of the national strategy to achieve technological leadership – is the key expert council of the Russian Science Foundation. Its participants are responsible for the competitive selection of programs and projects that will ensure research, work and development for the implementation of strategic initiatives of the President of the Russian Federation in the scientific and technological sphere, according to the priorities of the country’s scientific and technological development.
– Technology projects are now receiving large grant funding. We can talk about 30-50 million per year. In the Scientific and Technological Council, I am responsible for the “Chemistry and New Materials”. Tomsk State University is quite strong in this field, – comments Alexander Vorozhtsov.
Ekaterina Marchenko, head of the Laboratory of Medical Alloys and Implants with Shape Memory, head of the department of strength and design of the TSU Faculty of Physics and Engineering, is responsible for engineering sciences. In general, the council is responsible for competitive selection and monitoring the implementation of large-scale projects with the involvement of leading world scientists.
It should be noted that Tomsk State University is among the top 10 leaders in terms of the number of projects carried out with the support of the Russian Science Foundation. Thus, in 2025, the Russian Science Foundation awarded 11 grants to TSU scientists for fundamental research and exploratory activity by small individual research groups and one grant for oriented and applied research within the framework of the national project to ensure technological leadership “New Materials and Chemistry”.
– If we talk about fundamental research in the field of design and engineering of medical materials, which our Laboratory of Medical Alloys and Implants with Shape Memory deals with, then over the past five years our laboratory received seven grants. Young scientists of the laboratory, with the support of the Foundation, work for the development and technological leadership of the country, implementing and bringing research ideas to a specific implant and clinical application, – notes Ekaterina Marchenko.
It should be added that more than 100 TSU scientists are invited experts of the Russian Science Foundation in those fields of science where they are recognized specialists. At the same time, both invited experts and members of expert councils can be executors and leaders of projects applying for or receiving support from the fund.
For reference. The Russian Science Foundation was established in 2013 at the initiative of the President of Russia and supports fundamental and applied research in the interests of science, economics and society. Based on competent expertise, the fund identifies the most promising research projects, supports the younger generation of researchers and stimulates public interest in science. Since 2014, the fund has supported more than 23 thousand projects totaling more than 265 billion rubles. 80 thousand researchers from 84 regions of Russia were engaged in the projects.