Top Foreign Graduate Students at SPbPU Awarded BIG PhD-2023 Grants

At the end of 2023, the results and winners of the Best International Grant for PhD (BIG PhD) competition were summarized and announced. For the second time SPbPU hosted the competition, which was held with the support of the Priority-2030 Strategic Academic Leadership Program as part of activities related to the transformation of work with foreign PhD students.

This year’s competition evaluated the publication activity of Polytechnic’s foreign graduate students. A mandatory requirement was the affiliation of the graduate student with SPbPU. Articles in highly rated journals SCOPUS, Web of Science, as well as journals included in the HAC list and the core of RSCI, as well as other categories of publications, including theses and conference papers, were taken into account. The fact of having international co-authors could bring special points to the contestants — it is from foreign graduate students that Polytechnic University expects close scientific ties and communications in the international sphere.

This year’s BIG PhD competition aroused great interest among PhD students — 51 PhD students submitted their documents for consideration. The most applications were received from PhD students from the Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade, the Institute of Machinery, Materials, and Transport, and the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications.

The Commission faced a difficult choice. All the participants of the competition to a greater or lesser extent demonstrated high involvement and activity in the publication sphere — some of them had already several rated articles, and some of them had many conferences and reports, even if not of such a high level. It is obvious that the motivation and scientific potential of foreign graduate students is very high and the support of such activities from the university has a significant impact. For example, many graduate students did not pay attention to the need to attract foreign co-authors — and at the same time this indicator remains an important criterion in the international positioning of the university.

The winners of the competition were 16 international students who scored more than 5 competition points. Nikita Zernov from the Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnologies, Faridoddin Shariati from the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications and Irina Ponyayeva from the Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade took the first places with a big gap. An important role in the winners’ success was also played by their scientific supervisors, who properly train and focus the young scientists’ activities.

I would like to express my gratitude to Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University for supporting international PhD students. Participation in the “Best International Grant for PhD” competition was a very enriching experience for me. Such competitions play an important role in improving the scientific level of PhD students. I am optimistic about the future and hope to organize more such competitions with a wider scope to support young foreign scientists who strive to raise the scientific level of our university and Russia, commented on the news of his victory Shariati Faridoddin.

We congratulate the winners and hope that winning the competition will motivate them to continue their active publication activities. And to the rest of the foreign PhD students of Polytechnic, we wish them success in building their research careers and look forward to being among the participants of future BIG PhD competitions!

WINNERS OF THE 2023 COMPETITION:

Nikita Zernov, Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnology
Faridoddin Shariati, Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade
Irina Ponyaeva, Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade
Chu Van Trung, Institute of Energy
Huc Thanh Bang, Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications
Tran Nhan Hau, Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnology
Nguyen Thi Thu Dung, Institute of Cyber Security and Computer Science
Tseger Silike, Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade
Mohammed Haider Jasim Mohammed, Institute of Energy
Ali Qais Adnan, Institute of Energy
Gong Boven, Institute of Energy
Wang Shi, Institute of Humanities
Faryal Dehqan, Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade
Alexander Zhila, Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications
Shen Yunfeng, Institute of Machinery, Materials, and Transport
Zhang Wenyi, Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade.