“Doing science is a vocation”: Day of Russian Science

8 February is the Day of Russian Science. The date of the professional holiday of the scientific community was not set by chance: on this day in 1724, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the country's highest scientific institution, was established.

✔ Science is the driving force of progress. Thanks to scientists, new opportunities are opening up for humanity, the quality of life is improving, and production is improving. For 190 years, scientists of the St Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering have been working for the benefit of national science. Continuing the glorious traditions of Russia's oldest institution of higher education in architecture and construction, they develop advanced scientific areas and present the latest technologies.

Anatoly Osokin, head of the Department of Geotechnics, and Rashid Mangushev, professor at this department, in 2022 were among the laureates of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology. In their work, nominated for the award, scientists presented the results of scientific research, design, construction and scientific and technical support for more than 60 underground objects and parts of structures in various engineering and geological conditions.

Anatoly Asaul, professor at the Department of Construction Economics and Housing and Utility Infrastructure, was awarded the "Professor of the Year" award by the public organization "Russian Professorial Assembly". He became the winner in the nomination "Economics".

Evgenia Guzhva, professor at the Department of Construction Economics and Housing and Utility Infrastructure, researches the sphere of consumption. She is the author of more than 100 scientific and educational works. “My whole life is connected with the university: I have been working here since 1976. I am a teacher, this is a profession, it is difficult to live without a profession. But doing science is not a profession, but rather a vocation. Not everyone has it, but everyone should try it. Many will succeed!“ – Evgenia Grigorievna believes.

Yury Tsvetkov, a PhD student of the Department of Construction Economics and Housing and Utility Infrastructure, focuses on the mechanism of formation of the price of a state contract in construction. Based on the results of his research, the young scientist published a number of scientific articles, won competitions for grants from the Government of St Petersburg in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and in a competition in the field of scientific and pedagogical activities, also held by the government of our city.

✔ According to the PhD student, the state carries out various purchases to meet public needs, including orders for the construction of socially significant facilities in the areas of healthcare and education, transport infrastructure, housing and communal services, etc. It is important that these facilities are built with high quality and on time.

In the course of the work, the experience of fulfilling various government contracts was studied, both successfully completed orders and terminated agreements were analyzed. Having formed a sufficiently large information base on the state construction order and applying the methods of statistical data processing, it was possible to propose a methodological approach that can be used to determine the probability of successful execution of a particular contract in construction.

Omar Shakshak, a PhD student of the Department of Computer Science, is researching the use of virtual reality to reduce occupational injuries in high-risk jobs in the construction industry. He considers the main task to be the introduction of VR technology into the educational process, as this will reduce the labour costs of companies for training their employees.

“I have developed a virtual reality-based computer training program called Smart Labour, which is in the testing and validation stage. Within the framework of the federal innovation project "Modern Educational Technologies for Ensuring Labour Safety in the Construction Industry", the "Smart Labour" program is being expanded, work is underway to create a launcher (software shell for Windows OS) "TrudLab" and new training courses based on virtual reality are being created" – said Omar Shakshak.{gallery name="учёные23"}

Text: Tatiana Petrova
Photo: SPbGASU Information policy division

✔ Learn more about science research at the university