The competition is held in order to support young researchers engaged in promising scientific developments. The scholarship amount is 75,000 rubles per month, and the appointment period is from one to four years. In 2026, the number of winners of the competition has been increased to 800 people.

The Presidential Scholarship is awarded to graduate students and adjuncts who study full-time and conduct research in the framework of the priorities of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation, defined in the strategy of scientific and technological development of the country. The scholarship candidates were nominated by their academic supervisors. In total, the competition received more than 6 thousand applications from 73 regions of Russia. The winners were representatives of all federal districts, including two graduate students from new regions.

SFedU Rector Inna Shevchenko participated in the consideration of applications for the presidential scholarship as the head of the working group on social sciences and Humanities of the Council for Science under the President of the Russian Federation.

Inna Konstantinovna noted that twice as many applications were submitted this year compared to last year. The leadership in the number of applications and winners is traditionally held by economists, historians and philologists. Inna Konstantinovna also noted the unusual interdisciplinary topics that first appeared among the winners.: "Constitutional and legal foundations of genome editing" (law) and work using machine learning methods in cognitive sciences.

"As the head of the working group, I would like to note an important trend: the competition in our direction has almost doubled, and the average score of the winners has also become much higher. This indicates a serious increase in the level of work. It is important that young people choose not only traditional topics of economics and history, but also bold interdisciplinary projects at the intersection of law and biotechnology (for example, genome editing) or sociology and AI," Inna Shevchenko emphasized. "I would like to congratulate the young scientists of SFedU, who became winners of the scholarship competition of the President of the Russian Federation and wish them further success for the benefit of the development of Russian science."

SFedU young scientists have achieved success in five key areas:

Anton Zabolotny became the winner in the field of "Physical Sciences".   

The scientific supervisor is Nikita Ter Oganesyan, a leading researcher at the SFedU Research Institute of Physics.

In the field of "Chemical Sciences", the winners were:

Egor Beskopylny

Scientific supervisor — Senior researcher Sergey Belenov, Alekseenko Laboratory

Julia Bayan

The scientific supervisor is a participant and head of projects supported by the Russian Science Foundation aimed at improving the efficiency and durability of materials for hydrogen energy. Anastasia Alekseenko is the author of more than 80 scientific publications, including works in international journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, as well as the holder of patents in the field of chemical technologies.

Vitaly Dmitriev

The scientific supervisor is Ilya Ozhogin, a leading researcher.

In the scientific field of Biological Sciences, the winners were:

Daria Privizentseva

The scientific supervisor is Kamil Kazeev, Director of the SFedU Academy of Biology and Medicine.

Vladislav Popov

The scientific supervisor is Svetlana Sushkova, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Soil Science and Land Resources Assessment at Academy of Biology and Medicine of the Southern Federal University, and head of the scientific laboratory "Intelligent Agroecosystems".

Tamara Dudinkova

The scientific supervisor is Professor Tatyana Minkina, Head of the Department of Soil Science and Land Resources Assessment, Chief Researcher at the Soil Health Laboratory of the Academy of Biology and Medicine of the Southern Federal University, Head of the strategic project of the Southern Federal University "Soil Resource Management Systems" of the Priority 2030 program.

Elizabeth Bogomaz

The scientific supervisor is Professor Tatyana Minkina, Head of the Department of Soil Science and Land Resources Assessment, Chief Researcher at the Soil Health Laboratory of the Academy of Biology and Medicine of the Southern Federal University, Head of the strategic project of the Southern Federal University "Soil Resource Management Systems" of the Priority 2030 program.

Evgeny Shuvaev

The scientific supervisor is Svetlana Sushkova, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Soil Science and Land Resources Assessment at the Academy of Biology and Medicine of the Southern Federal University, and head of the scientific laboratory "Intelligent Agroecosystems".

Ekaterina Khrapai

The scientific supervisor is Sergey Kolesnikov, Deputy Director for Research and Head of the leading scientific school of the Russian Federation "Soil Ecology".

In the social and humanitarian field, the winners of the competition were:

Alyona Artamonova

The scientific supervisor is Tatiana Vorontsova, Candidate of Psychological Sciences and Associate Professor of the Department of Social Psychology at the SFedU Academy of Psychology and Pedagogy.

Elizabeth Shkurat

The scientific supervisor is Anastasia Nikitaeva, Doctor of Economics, Professor and Head of the Department of Information Economics at the SFedU Faculty of Economics.

Danil Kiselyov

The scientific supervisor is Professor and Doctor of Philosophy, Scientific director of the Institute of Sociology and Regional Studies of the Southern Federal University Yuri Volkov.

In the technical field, Danil Kirichenko became the winner.

The scientific supervisor is Maxim Solodovnik, a leading researcher at the Epitaxial Technologies Research Laboratory, Associate Professor of the Department of Nanotechnology and Microsystem Engineering at the Institute of Nanotechnology, Electronics and Instrumentation at the Southern Federal University.