Plunge into Entertaining World of Students’ Science!

With the Festival of Students’ Science to be held at Astrakhan State University approaching, Prof. Anna Fedotova (ASU’s Vice Rector for Research Activities), Prof. Sergey Khrapov (Research Supervisor of ASU’s Student Research Council), and Mr. Victor Dorofeev (Chairman of the Council) have told us about this upcoming event.

The Festival is to be held on December 15; teams of all the Departments of our University shall demonstrate their experimental developments in various fields of knowledge there. “Science has gone far beyond strictly determined areas, be that Biology, Chemistry, Math, Philosophy, or any other science, long ago”, Prof. Fedotova points out. “This phenomenon is no longer associated just with test tubes, integrals, figures, or computers… We stick to a wider understanding of science, which includes everything that’s happening around us. Mass character and popularization of science are of top priority now, so our University, following the world tendencies, has decided to hold a large event as a festival, not as traditional conferences, symposiums, or roundtable talks. This Festival is to show that in whatever field of science one might conduct their researches, they’re versatile and may be performed at any Department”.

Speaking about the main goals and tasks of the Festival, Prof. Khrapov adds that it shall help attract our students’ attention to our University’s new developments, promote the research component of professional competencies, and contribute to interaction between research and educational activities. “Our students who make up the Student Research Council of ASU are the main organizers of this event. The festival movement in the field of students’ science is developing rapidly now. Such events are arranged in Russia’s various regions upon their key universities’ initiatives. Now we’re going to arrange this Festival on the regional level, but next year we’re planning to provide a larger scale for it”, Prof. Khrapov remarks.

As for Mr. Dorofeev, he has told us how the idea to arrange this Festival came to the Organizing Committee. He says that is our students’ and our University Administration’s common initiative: “At first, we planned to organize a competition of innovations, but then we decided to arrange something more global. We agreed that such an event should be interesting for all the students, as everyone could demonstrate their projects there. The Festival shall be of hands-on character: instead of standard reports, the guests will assess “installations” of original and quite often unexpected scientific developments”.

As the Organizing Committee reports, preparation for the upcoming Festival has reached its peak stage. The event organizers will have to arrange exhibition sites in the Assembly Hall of ASU in accordance with the number of our Departments, whereas the participants will have to select projects for demonstration. Any team must have registered their participation on the Official Web Site of Astrakhan State University.

As for the desired results, the event organizers set the goal to promote our students’ research creativity and encourage their wish to undertake a research. “What output is acceptable for us? Of course, we aim to increase the number of our students’ grants and research papers. The figures to be obtained must prove that our students’ research activities are developing, that the number of young researchers is increasing”, Prof. Fedotova remarks.

On behalf of all the event organizers, Prof. Khrapov addresses the Departments of ASU to invite potential investors to the Festival. It will help the event participants, who will wish to become a mature researcher, make useful contacts.

It is not a jury, but guests who shall assess the projects to be exhibited: each of them shall be able to vote for any team by dropping their ballots into the corresponding box. The winners shall be determined depending on how many ballots they would receive; they shall obtain the 1st, the 2nd, or the 3rd degree diploma. Besides, the winners shall be entitled to represent Astrakhan State University at festivals and competitions of various levels – from regional to international ones. All the participants shall obtain a certificate.

The Festival promises to be a bright, original, and memorable event in our University’s scientific life. Its organizers wish its participants to believe in themselves, to come up with new creative developments, and to apply nonstandard approaches to their researches. They still cannot reveal all the secrets of the upcoming Festival. Everyone is welcome to arrive and see how attractive, mysterious, and unbounded the world of science is!

Interviewed by T.Yu. Gavrilkina (the University Web Resources Information Support Laboratory of ASU)