Opening the meeting, Inna Shevchenko congratulated all graduate students on their professional holiday, noting their role as the future of Russian science. She cited impressive figures: SFedU currently has more than 800 postgraduate students in 60 fields, and the rate of successful defense of PhD theses at the university is three times higher than the national average. In 2025, 36% of graduate school graduates defended their papers, with 30% of them on time.

"SFedU knows how to educate graduate students and is able to support their achievements. We are keeping pace with the government, with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which is taking steps to ensure that more and more young people enter science and successfully defend their PhD theses. Today we have 17 presidential fellows who broadcast their experience and support the ambitions of the next generation," Inna Shevchenko emphasized.

The year 2025 was a jubilee year for SFedU — the university celebrated its 110th anniversary. As the rector noted, this year was not just a reason for celebration, but an impulse for development. The Genome of Science project has made it possible to bring the legacy of outstanding scientists of the past back into the modern context, inspiring a new generation of researchers.

"If we recall the highlights of the past year, it is the holding of the first forum "The Future of the Azov Sea region" together with the Federation Council of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation, the opening of a branch of the SFedU in Cuba and the return to the University of the medical field. None of these events have passed without a trace and will not remain until 2025. This forum led to the creation of a permanent design and technology center on our base for the integrated development of the entire macroregion. The Cuban branch helps us establish scientific ties with the University of Havana, as well as promote the study of the Russian language throughout Cuba. Well, graduates of the Medical Biochemistry department at the SFedU Academy of Biology and Medicine will be responding to the most modern challenges in healthcare in a few years," Inna Shevchenko said.

One of the key achievements of the university was the strengthening of its position in the strategic academic leadership program "Priority 2030". SFedU entered the top 4 universities of the first group, having received a grant of about 830 million rubles for 2026. The income from R&D in 2025 exceeded 4 billion rubles. The University actively cooperates with state corporations (Rostec, Roscosmos, Rosatom), scientific centers among which the Kurchatov Institute Research Center and industry leaders (GC Titan, Sibur, Biocad) are the leading partners.

"Running a university means leading a complex and living organism, where academic freedom, precise calculation and the energy of discovery converge. But it is a noble work, because it is science that ensures progress in the country and it is education that gives people competitive advantages in the labor market," Inna Shevchenko summed up.

Evgeny Mukhanov spoke in detail about three strategic projectse on which the university's efforts are concentrated. Smart Factory of New Materials: in partnership with Sibur and GC Titan, a system is being created where artificial intelligence controls microreactors, reducing the synthesis time of promising materials from several years to weeks. "Soil Bioengineering" — SFedU technologies demonstrate an increase in yields on degraded lands by 30-45% per season, the developed microbial consortia have successfully passed tests in space. "Intelligent sensors" — biohybrid sensors for detecting explosives, created with Russian Railways, have record sensitivity, and their own memristive chips are being developed for import substitution in microelectronics.

"The launch of the national Bioeconomics project in Russia is a strategic compass for us. He sets a large—scale task for the transition to a new quality of using biological raw materials and creating products with high added value - from pharmaceuticals to biotechnologies. By joining the tasks of this national project, we have launched a whole network of scientific and technological projects within the university. These are independent laboratories and teams that create products for bioeconomics tasks. For example, a system for diagnosing soils after fires to quickly assess damage, or a technology for ultrafast remediation of lands after man-made impacts. Each of them has its own value. Bioeconomics is a testing ground for multidisciplinary work for us. Our research combines biology, bioinformatics, materials science, and even areas such as archaeology, where there are fundamental foundations. Thanks to the Priority 2030 program, we have learned how to quickly translate these developments into partner projects with real implementation," said Evgeny Mukhanov.

Special attention at the press conference was paid to a landmark event scheduled for February 8, the Day of Russian Science - the grand opening of the Center for Micro— and Low-tonnage Chemistry. This center will become the core of the Technological Valley, a large—scale scientific, educational and industrial cluster being created on the Western Campus of SFU. The center is designed to dramatically accelerate the process of developing and implementing strategically important materials for pharmaceuticals, energy and electronics.

During the dialogue, Alexander Trofimchuk highlighted the SFedU's participation in the federal Artificial Intelligence project. According to him, by 2030 the university will train at least 500 highly qualified specialists in this field. The training is based on a unique model combining fundamental mathematics and applied IT competencies. Since the first year, students have been involved in real projects with partners: Sibur, Russian Railways, Yandex, and Center-Invest Bank. Programs with double diplomas from the Higher School of Economics have been launched.

"Our strategy is based on a new scientific and technical program on artificial intelligence, which is based on three key blocks. The first is fundamental and applied research, which we conduct together with leading partners such as Yandex, Sberbank and Russian Railways, with a special focus on the application of AI in the natural sciences. The second block is hardware development based at our engineering school in Taganrog. The third is the massive introduction of AI technologies in all areas of the economy and social life. Our strength lies in close integration with industrial and academic leaders (Sibur, Kurchatov Institute, Center—Invest Bank) and in a special educational environment where the country's leading scientists teach from the first year, and the best students receive individual tracks and mentoring," explained Alexander Trofimchuk.

In addition, the speakers spoke about the deep revision of pedagogical design and the comprehensive support of young teachers. For this purpose, special programs for the development of artificial intelligence technologies are being created, which are already available to all interested employees of SFedU and partner universities. The goal of introducing AI into science and higher education is to automate routine tasks, freeing up time for creative and research work. The approaches to knowledge transfer themselves are being actively reviewed, which include philosophical, psychological and sociological aspects, which changes the ideological foundations of the educational process. This work is being carried out as part of the development of a university-wide humanitarian core aimed at preparing critically minded graduates who are ready to repeatedly change career paths. The university's right to its own educational standards, which allow for the introduction of flexible learning models, has become a key tool.