ASU News

Elena Kukva, Director of the ASU Research Initiatives Department, reported on the implementation of the Decade of Science and Technology plan at Adyghe State University in 2023–2025 at a meeting of the Council under the Head of the Republic of Adygea on Higher Education, Science, and Scientific and Technical Policy, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Orlov at the behest of the regional head .

As part of addressing the objectives of the Decade of Science and Technology, ASU implemented a number of initiatives and projects over three years, involving approximately 700,000 schoolchildren and students who participated in online and offline events.

To attract talented young people to research and development, improve access to information about the achievements and prospects of Russian science for Russian citizens, and promote the involvement of researchers and developers in solving the most important problems of societal and national development, the university is implementing the following projects: "Mathematics: A New Perspective," "Mathematics for Non-Mathematicians," "Adygland," "Student Breakthrough: From Pioneer to Pro," "Heart in Adygea," "Thirty with Mathematics," "Science Around," and others. A laboratory for teaching mathematical ideas and a laboratory for mathematical methods in precision agriculture and biotechnology have been established. A competition for student research projects and seasonal schools are also held: the Summer Methodological University, the Summer School "How Can a Student Become a Mathematics Teacher?", the School of Plant Phenomics, and the Caucasian School of Experimental Linguistics and Cognitive Sciences.

The All-Russian popular science project "Science Around," implemented by ASU with the support of a grant from the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, has proven to be the most successful. Over two seasons, 650,000 schoolchildren and students participated in the project's events, which took place online and offline, and the content created as part of the project—popular science lectures by renowned Russian scientists and popularizers and the podcast series "What Do Academicians Talk About?"—has been viewed by approximately 10 million internet users.

Over the course of the project's two seasons, more than 500,000 schoolchildren participated in online lessons from the "How Does It Work?" series, another 130,000 people took part in the interdisciplinary online quiz "Russia Decides!", dedicated to the great Russian mathematician Nikolai Lobachevsky. More than 57,000 people attended science festivals held at the Orlyonok All-Russian Children's Center, the Smena All-Russian Children's Center, the Sirius Educational Center, as well as in Maykop and Ust-Labinsk. 737 family teams participated in the Family Mathematical Olympiad "From A to Z."

More than 170 volunteers—teachers, students, and schoolchildren—were involved in the implementation of this large-scale project. One of the project's key results was the formation of a community of popularizers and the dissemination of science popularization competencies, the high level of which has been recognized by the professional community. The "Science Around" project reached the finals of the Runet Prize in 2024, and in 2025, it was among the top three popular science projects for children in the All-Russian "For Loyalty to Science" Prize and was recognized as the best educational project in Adygea by Znanie.Premia.