Photo: Andrei Minaev
The open studio of Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda was visited by the chairman of the scientific expert council of the State Arctic Commission, rector of the legendary Baumanka, Mikhail Gordin.
COMBINATION OF PEOPLE
– In the coming days, one of the first meetings of the scientific expert council on the Arctic, created under the supervision of Deputy Prime Minister of the federal government, Yuri Trutnev, will take place. What exactly will the council of scientific experts do?
– Tomorrow the second meeting of the Presidium created under the State Commission will take place. Its main task is to discuss the priorities and effectiveness of scientific research in the interests of business. The Council of Scientific Experts itself was created as a combination of people from the scientific community, from universities, scientific institutes, regional and federal government bodies, companies and representatives of companies actively participating in their activities in the Arctic.
It is necessary to ensure that scientific research, whether fundamental or applied, carried out by the State or with public funds, brings practical benefits to the development of the Arctic. That is, business. And not necessarily in the short term; It can be both medium and long. But our every move in study, research and practical work must be accepted, discussed and recommended, even to companies. That is, do what they need.
– Rosatom has recently acted as de facto operator for the development of the Northern Sea Route. How can science help the state corporation in this matter?
– Climate research: what is happening with the climate, where will it move: this is a slightly more fundamental story. From practice: navigation and communications, providing weather and ice forecasts. Arctic energy, which is particularly linked to certain Arctic decisions. Autonomy, remoteness, simply difficult conditions… These are new materials that must be used in the Arctic. And, of course, the ecology, which is also special for the arctic region. Any operator of projects in the Arctic must take this into account, given the fragility of the environment.
The State Corporation, along with other companies, including subsoil users, is undoubtedly one of the main consumers of scientific and practical tasks. Our task is to bring science and engineering closer to consumers.
LEADER – SAKHALIN
– Regarding the climate agenda. Until recently, there was a lot of talk around the world about reducing our carbon footprint. Including carbon credits, forms of monetization… There is much less talk about this today. In Russia, this topic has remained in the shadows, has all work in this direction been reduced?
– In conditions of greater isolation than before, the focus has been lost a bit. However, in Russia we continue to do this. There is a Russian carbon registry and companies are developing carbon projects. Perhaps the leader here is Sakhalin, which is striving to become carbon neutral. There are other regions that are also actively involved in this and companies are very interested in it. Of course, all those companies involved in actual production are analyzing the possibilities of reducing their carbon footprint in one way or another.
Of course, there are also business connections. Sooner or later, the sanctions regime will be reduced and isolation will be reduced. And the entire world continues to support this agenda anyway. It has become a little smaller, taking into account the energy crisis, however, everything will return, one hundred percent. And for when this returns, when the carbon agenda returns to full focus, we must also be prepared. This is an export restriction. And now we have to think not only about emissions reduction projects, but also about monetization channels, how to demonstrate that we are generating an emissions reduction and how to then market those emissions. It is not necessarily about sales for money, but also about opening export channels for our export products.
The methodologies and approaches that we can adopt from the West are not always friendly to us. They are tailored to Western economies, their interests. It is necessary to carry out scientific research, it is necessary to demonstrate that certain measures, certain decisions really generate a reduction in emissions or absorption of CO2. You need to have your own instrument base. This is the basis on which all calculations are based. And you need to have your own models on how to translate measures into specific loans. These three elements: methodology, models and instruments, that is, instruments to measure various elements of these emissions, are areas in which scientific research and practical development are needed. Without them, we will not be able to generate these loans and companies will not be able to sell them later.
There are now a large number of companies that are dedicated to verification and validation. Our university is one of those companies that can validate and verify emissions reduction projects. We have already completed several projects, including with Sakhalin. Verified. We will continue to do this, but not only…
We have one of the projects within the framework of “Priorities 2030”, our strategic project within the framework of the Ministry of Education program, called “Bauman Go Green”, which is precisely about reducing emissions in these three areas. This is very relevant. For the largest companies this has not disappeared, but for the rest it will surely once again be a very important point on the agenda to open export channels and promote our exports.
THE PRESTIGE OF ENGINEERING PROFESSIONS IS GROWING
– How difficult is it now to attract young people to science?
– “Baumanka” is still not exactly a science, it is engineering, practice. Although there is also science. There are enough guys interested in entering both more scientific universities and practical universities like ours. Although it cannot be said that it is very difficult to apply to us. Studying is difficult, but getting in may not be as difficult as other universities. Because we have a very great reception. More than 5 thousand people. Of course, IT specialties are in the lead, they have very high passing scores. But it is easier to access classical engineering specialties, especially those related to the military-industrial complex. But it’s still hard to study, no matter what.
Of course, the boys have great interest in both their studies and this specialty. It seems to me that the prestige of the engineering profession is growing and the salaries of engineers are increasing, including in the defense-industrial complex. I believe this wave will further increase the prestige of engineering education. And it will lead to greater interest in physics, chemistry and mathematics in school.
