MIL OSI Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –
Classes within the postgraduate course “Fundamentals of Scientific Research” will begin at Novosibirsk State University on September 26. This course is an integral part of the educational component of the new model of postgraduate study at NSU along with another discipline – “Academic English”. They are mandatory for first-year postgraduate students of all faculties of the university.
The course program was developed by the head of the laboratory of functional diagnostics of low-dimensional structures for nanoelectronics Physics Department of NSU Pavel Geidt in 2022. The course is designed for one semester. Some postgraduate students study it in the first half of the academic year, the rest in the second. Over 360 young scientists have completed it in two years.
— This course does not involve mastering the deep theoretical aspects of philosophy, entrepreneurship, communication psychology, natural sciences and other classical disciplines. It is rather a synthesis of several sections of these disciplines that have the greatest practical significance for graduate students at this stage. Its goal is to help young scientists from various sciences undergo postgraduate studies and further engage in independent research activities. The idea of the course comes from a common problem: often university teachers do not tell graduate students in a structured way about a lot of practical information related to scientific activity, about its organizational and reporting aspects, about performance in projects, about the features of preparing grant applications, about etiquette in the scientific community and team , about information retrieval tools, about computer tools for working with data arrays and much more. As a result, graduate students face many difficulties: how to formulate a hypothesis for their research, how to prepare a publication for a scientific publication, how to successfully defend their dissertation and other uncertainties. The knowledge that they will receive as part of the course will help young scientists at the very beginning of their scientific career to build relationships with scientific supervisors, heads of departments and faculties, heads of scientific projects, employees of their laboratory, foundations, monitoring agencies and other structures that they will encounter ,” explained Pavel Geidt.
The course consists of 8 lectures, including “The Main Aspects of Conducting Research”, “The Role of Management in Scientific Research”, “Financing Scientific Activity”, “Writing Scientific Publications”, “Participation in Scientific Events” and “Methods of Defending Dissertations through the Higher Attestation Commission and the NSU Dissertation Council”. These lectures will be given by Pavel Geidt, as well as Ilya Beterov, Associate Professor of the Quantum Electronics Department of the NSU Physics Faculty, Anna Komarova, Associate Professor of the Political Economy Department of the EF, Leading Researcher of the Laboratory of Empirical Analysis of Industry Markets of the EF, and Natalia Aksenova, Head of the Department of Support and Analysis of Scientific Research at NSU.
The course includes two practical classes. Unlike lectures, which are a summary of existing knowledge and organized information from various sources, practical classes are original authorial material. The first class, “Michael Faraday’s Principle: Work, Finish, Publish,” was developed by Pavel Geidt.
— Publication of research results in scientific journals is mandatory for every scientist, but for those who are taking their first steps in big science, this causes many difficulties. Which journal should I send my work to? How to write and format a manuscript correctly? How to respond to reviewers’ comments? Who decides whether to publish an article? What should I do if my manuscript is not accepted for publication? How can I make sure that it is published anyway? And these are far from all the questions that young researchers have at the first stage of their independent, thoughtful scientific work. We tried to recreate the process of preparing an article for publication in a classroom setting so that it would be understandable and “transparent.” The students are divided into 4 groups: a group of authors, the university administration, the editorial board of a foreign scientific journal, and the editorial board of a domestic publication. Each participant in the practical lesson receives their own role: scientist, scientific supervisor, editor-in-chief of a scientific journal, reviewer, and others. In this way, all stages of the process of creating and publishing an article are reproduced, and the roles of the participants in this process acquire meaning, as if they come to life, said Pavel Geidt.
The second practical lesson “Critical Thinking in Science. TRIZ: Relevance for Technical and Humanitarian Sciences and Further Prospects for the Application of TRIZ for Dissertations” was developed and is being conducted by the Director Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization of NSU Alexander Kvashnin. Teamwork is also important here. Mixed groups of young scientists from different faculties and institutes work together to resolve complex contradictions in science and technology that require a creative approach. Here, graduate students are also given homework: find a way to solve a technical problem within the framework of their dissertation research and describe it in 200 words.
At this stage, it is expected that graduate students will develop the skills to formulate research problems and systematically design ways to solve these problems in the types of activities that interest them, encourage young scientists to methodologically reflect on their research project, instill a desire for clarity, structure and internal coherence of arguments and reasoning in their written works and oral presentations, and maintain interest in further in-depth mastery of disciplines related to the courses within and beyond the framework of their dissertations.
— A budding scientist must be prepared for practical scientific work in graduate school and be able to conduct independent scientific research. This requires a clear knowledge of current scientific problems, the ability to analyze the state of the topic of interest and the related field of activity. Graduate students need skills in preparing grant applications, planning the execution of work and completing a project on time. Submitting reports with the publication of the results of intellectual activity, speaking at international conferences and, of course, successfully defending a dissertation are also important. We will teach graduate students to do science independently, as well as to speak about it in an understandable language, — Pavel Geidt summarized.
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Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
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