An emergency Scientific Council was held at the Institute of Oceanology: employees are against the transition to Kovalchuk

Not a single hand was raised for the idea to move to the Kurchatov Institute Research Center, headed by Mikhail Kovalchuk

The Emergency Scientific Council took place on Wednesday evening at the Institute of Oceanology named after. Shirshov RAS. It was dedicated to a letter from the President of the National Research Center «Kurchatov Institute» Mikhail Kovalchuk to the President of the country Vladimir Putin, in which he asked to transfer seven strong institutes to the Research Center, including the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Oceanologists have developed their position on this matter.

Photo: kremlin.ru

As MK previously reported, on June 11, the President of the National Research Center «Kurchatov Institute» Mikhail Kovalchuk appealed to the president of the country with a request to transfer seven leading institutes of the country to the Scientific Research Center, most of which are currently subordinate to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

We were talking about the Trinity Institute of Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Federal Scientific Center for Food Systems them. Gorbatov RAS, Institute of Oceanology named after. Shirshov RAS, Crimean All-Russian Research Institute of Viticulture and Winemaking «Magarach» RAS, the North Caucasus Federal Scientific Center for Horticulture, Viticulture and Winemaking, about the Federal Rostov Agrarian National Center and the Institute for Problems of Technology of Microelectronics and Highly Pure Materials of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The President of the country gave instructions to members of the government, and they – Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Russian Academy of Sciences: “develop and submit proposals” in connection with this letter from Kovalchuk.

On Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science addressed the teams of the institutes under its jurisdiction with a request to urgently develop a collective opinion on the advisability of transferring the institutes under the leadership of the Scientific Research Center «KI». Answers were offered  supported by decisions of the Academic Councils. 

As it became known to MK, the Scientific Council at the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences was held in full. All members of the Council voted against the transfer to the Kurchatov Institute Research Center. Based on the results of the meeting, an appropriate response with arguments was prepared to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.   

Its summary is as follows. The Institute of Oceanography RAS conducts a wide range of studies of the nature of the World Ocean and the seas of Russia. These studies are carried out within the framework of numerous Federal programs, decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation and instructions of the President of the Russian Federation. In particular, the institute is responsible for the Unified National System for Monitoring Climate-Active Substances within the framework of a project of national importance. In addition, the Institute of Oceanology RAS carries out a wide range of research in the interests of defense and security of the country. At the same time, the Institute of Oceanology RAS and the National Research Center «Kurchatov Institute» For many years, they have been closely cooperating in the study of potentially dangerous objects in the Kara and Barents Seas, and this cooperation will continue on a contractual basis.

But the accession of the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences to the Scientific Research Center «KI» “threatens the destruction of well-established scientific-production relations, the loss of unique specialists in these areas of research….” Members of the Academic Council wished to preserve the existing departmental affiliation of the institute and decided to object to the inclusion of the IO RAS in the National Research Center «Kurchatov Institute». 100 percent of the employees present at the Academic Council were in favor of this decision – 44 people.