The Committee on Science and Higher School of St Petersburg summed up the results of the competition for the awards of the St Petersburg Government in the field of scientific and pedagogical activities in 2023. The award ceremony for the winners took place on 4 October at the Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University.

In the category “PhD students, adjuncts, residents, full-time assistant trainees and employees of higher educational institutions, industry and academic institutions located in St Petersburg, without an academic degree,” the award was given to Alena Vedernikova, senior lecturer at the Department of Architectural and Engineering Constructions, for the study guide “Development of a structural and construction project for an industrial production building.”

“The study guide is intended for third-year students of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in the field of study 08.03.01 “Construction Technique and Technology.” They outline the sequence of solving problems of the course engineering of an industrial building with administrative and amenity premises. We have been working on the study guide for more than a year and plan to continue working to compile a textbook on this topic,” said Alena Vedernikova.

The author expresses gratitude to her mentor, the associate professor at the Department of Architectural and Engineering Constructions Dmitry Makhov, as well as to the students who tested the study guide during the academic year and provided assistance in completing the illustrations: Maksim Barankov, Alena Cheusova, Pavel Veliakhmetov, Marina Tulyakova, Maria Karyakina, Daniil Kravets , Daniil Prinyov, Georgy Kakabadze, Nikita Pankov and Svyatoslav Burilin.

In the category “Doctoral students and employees of higher educational institutions, industry and academic institutes located in St Petersburg, with a PhD degree,” the award was given to Nadezda Ostrovskaya, associate professor at the Department of Construction Mechanics, for the moodle course “Theory of Elasticity.”

Nadezhda Ostrovskaya has already received this prize in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Since then, she has regularly submitted applications, but she only managed to win the competition in the category of employees with a PhD degree now. Receiving the award is especially pleasant due to the fact that 2023 in Russia has been declared the Year of the Teacher and Mentor. The author believes that success was accompanied by two factors - the increasing age of young scientists and the demand for moodle courses as a modern and convenient learning format.

“The Moodle course is addressed to third-year students of the field of study 15.03.03 “Applied Mechanics” and fourth-year students of the field of study 23.05.01 “Land transport and technological means.” Thanks to the university's strategy to develop online learning platforms, it was piloted in the previous two academic years. Its main modules are presentations and lecture notes, materials for practical classes and independent work, tests and assignments to test theoretical and practical classes. I like that our university’s moodle courses are unified – the same structure for all disciplines is easier for students to understand,” commented Nadezhda Ostrovskaya.

We congratulate the teachers on the award and wish them further success!