From new approaches to teaching natural science disciplines to schoolchildren to training personnel to work at megascience class installations through joint network educational programs, as well as internships, schools for young scientists, the creation of student design bureaus and the organization of joint scientific research: the interuniversity consortium for cooperation with the CCU SKIF is moving forward in the implementation of the roadmap.
Created on the initiative of Novosibirsk State Technical University (NETI) within the framework of the "Priority 2030" program The interuniversity consortium for cooperation with the CCU SKIF has started implementing the roadmap. The consortium participants identified its main directions during the strategic session of the International Forum for Technological Development "Technoprom-2024". The discussion of the roadmap was attended by Nikolai Krasnikov, Mayor of the Koltsovo science city, Jan Zubavicius, Deputy Director for Scientific Work of the SKIF Central Research Center, representatives of educational institutions participating in the consortium, including Anatoly Bataev, Rector of NSTU-NETI, Alexey Gogolev, Vice-rector for Science and Strategic Projects of Tomsk Polytechnic University, Sergey Filimonov, Dean of the Faculty of Physics of Tomsk State University Viktor Khrustalev, Director of the Joint Institute of Chemical Research of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Andrey Rogachev, Director of the Landau School of Physics and Research at MIPT, Head of the Center for Additional Education at the Biotechnology Lyceum (Koltsovo) Dmitry Ryukbeil, Professor of Tomsk State Pedagogical University Mikhail Chervonny. The moderator was Olga Kolesova, head of the project "Siberian Universities and CCU SKIF: vectors of integration and creation of a world-class campus" of NSTU-NETI.
As a result of the discussion, a roadmap for the development of the consortium was formed and the coordinators of each direction were identified. The coordinator of the main line of work of the consortium for the training of personnel for the CCU "SKIF", including the formation of a bank of vacancies for researchers and service specialists, is the CCU "SKIF". TSU is the coordinator of the working group on the development of network educational programs, adaptive cross-disciplinary modules — designers of special courses.
NSTU-NETI oversees such areas of the consortium's work as the creation of a unified information space in the form of a calendar of thematic events (available at the link), a register of educational programs, special courses and educational installations. It is also planned to develop a series of popular science lectures on the use of synchrotron radiation in modern research with the involvement of all participants of the consortium, as well as the creation of a database of popularizing teachers. Together with colleagues from the BFU named after Kant NSTU-NETI acts as the coordinator of the direction for the creation of student design bureaus and the involvement of students in the work on equipment for megascience installations.
The activities of the consortium for the development of digital counterparts of stations and digital tools for teaching students are curated by TPU and SFU, ITMO University for big data processing, cooperation in the field of scientific research and the organization of a school of young scientists — MIPT, SFU and Voronezh State University.
"The development and use of modern research infrastructure, such as synchrotron radiation sources, requires combining the competencies of researchers and engineers from a wide range of fields. Universities have the greatest horizons and understanding of the scientific and technical landscape in which they operate. That is why the creation of a consortium of universities for cooperation with the CCU "SKIF" will make it possible to use the most strengths of each university, to obtain a single information space for the exchange of competencies and the development of joint scientific, technical and research projects, the center of which will be the ultramodern synchrotron in Novosibirsk. I focus on the aspect of the breadth of interaction between universities and the academic and industrial community. The university has an important property: it is a point of entry and coordination of the activities of organizations. Modern Russian universities do not work according to the model of higher education institutions: they are not only about education, they are about the possibility of creating complex knowledge-intensive results. And multicomponent high—tech research is exactly what such scientific infrastructures as SKIF are needed for," Andrey Rogachev, Director of the Landau Physics and Research School of MIPT, commented on the activities of the created consortium.
RUDN will act as the coordinator of the internship program and student workshops at the SKIF. And the first experience of such interaction has been gained: in July, for the second time, an internship was held for third-year students of the Faculty of Physics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the RUDN and undergraduates of the Moscow State Technical University named after N.E. Bauman. The scientific and industrial practice of students of the capital's universities was organized by the CCU "SKIF", NSTU-NETI became one of the basic universities of the program.
The development of methodological manuals and professional development programs for teachers will be conducted under the guidance of the TSPU and NGPU teams. The start of this work was given during the interuniversity seminar "Cooperation of educational institutions in order to make the best use of the opportunities of the CCU SKIF in teaching" in Tomsk.
Activities on the development of new formats of work with schoolchildren are supervised by the Engineering Lyceum of NSTU and the Biotechnology Lyceum. And the first event in this area has already taken place: within the framework of the OpenBio Young Researchers Forum, a round table was held at the Biotechnology Lyceum No. 21 "The possibilities of using the CCU "SKIF" in the organization of specialized education for schoolchildren." The participants of the round table discussed the creation of educational materials and laboratory physics based on the use of the unique capabilities of SKIF, which will allow students to study complex physical phenomena and processes in practice. An important topic of discussion was the formation of an open database of lectures on natural science subjects, which will use data and examples from real scientific research conducted on the basis of SKIF.