The funding structure for science and research in Russia will change according to a plan proposed by the Presidential Council for Science and Education and accepted by President Vladimir Putin. The government will no longer fund fundamental research directly, and instead, researchers will compete for grants. Grant applications will be reviewed by the Council and other science entities and then be distributed by endowment funds. Funding for science will increase, with the budget of the Russian Scientific Fund, which provides a portion of the support for fundamental science, totaling about RUB 48 billion ($1.5 billion). The budgets of the Russian Fund for Basic Research and Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation will increase 200% by 2020. Scientific activity will expand beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg to other areas of the country. Subject to approval by the Council for Science, the government will establish research priorities for basic research, which are likely to include nuclear energy, plasma physics and space. Environmental preservation, food and medicine are among the areas that researchers will further develop to benefit the Russian economy.

Source: University World News