The ministry has established the Science Council as an advisory body, to draft proposals on increasing the effectiveness of research, scientific-technical and innovative activities, and to discuss state programmes on science and conduct expert evaluations of relative legal acts.
Opening the meeting, Minister of Science and Education Dmitry Livanov said, in part: “The Science Council should reflect the problems and prospects of our science. We consider it a venue for communication and an instrument of expert evaluation that will tailor our decisions to the expectations of the scientific community. It should become a place for consolidating different opinions.”
Mr Livanov said the council will have the deciding vote in the adoption of strategic decisions while the ministry is ready to use the two-key principle and make its decisions following an endorsement by the council.
There are 22 Russian scientists in the council: 10 represent institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), another 10 – leading universities and two come from industry-related research organisations. Alexei Khokhlov, member of the RAS Presidium and pro-rector of Lomonosov Moscow State University, has been elected chairman of the council.
