Fifty-six students passed doctoral exams at KarRC RAS: 21 took the History and Philosophy of Science exam, 20 took the Foreign Language exam, and 15 took the specialized exam in their respective disciplines.

The examiners in the challenging Philosophy test for first-year doctoral students were Doctors of Philosophy and History – Alexey Volkov, Svetlana Volkova, and Olga Ilyukha. Despite the complexity of the material and the in-depth methodology questions, the students coped with the tasks, demonstrating an understanding of the philosophical foundations of scientific inquiry.

Second-year students took a Foreign Language test. Their language professors were Cand. Sci. in Philology Ekaterina Vasilyeva, Cand. Sci. in Pedagogy Svetlana Volkova, and Senior Lecturer Maria Erokhina. This test is rightfully considered one of the most demanding. It includes reading, translating, and retelling a foreign-language scientific article in the student's specialty, as well as a live interview with the examination committee, which, in addition to English language specialists, included the Centre’s scientists who are experts in the students’ respective scientific fields. According to the instructors, all examinees demonstrated not only deep knowledge of their subject area and enthusiasm for their ongoing research, but also high competencies in foreign-language communication.

Third and fourth year doctoral students took exams in the discipline they specialize in. For the second year in a row, the Doctoral Studies Department at KarRC RAS has invited researchers and lecturers holding post-doc degrees from other scientific and educational organizations to act as evaluators in the tests in specialized disciplines. Last year, they year they were specialists from the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth RAS (Moscow), St. Petersburg State University, and Perm State National Research University. This year, specialists came from the Institute of Experimental Medicine in St. Petersburg.

– It is useful to get feedback from colleagues regarding the training standard of our doctoral students, and it feels great when this feedback is positive. We hope the participation of third-party specialists as specialized-discipline examiners for doctoral students at KarRC RAS will become a tradition, – said Olga Koshman, Head of the Doctoral Studies Department.

Natalia Fokina, KarRC RAS Secretary for Science, as the representative of the KarRC RAS administration overseeing educational activities at the Centre, chaired the examination committee this year.

Natalia Nikolaevna specifically acknowledged the high professionalism of the teaching staff of the KarRC RAS Doctoral Studies Department. She also observed that many doctoral students showed significant progress in learning a foreign language. The credit for that certainly goes not only to the instructors but also to the diligence of the students themselves. After all, when entering doctoral studies, students have different levels of foreign language knowledge – some speak fluently and have excellent command of terminology, while others have problems with that. However, after two years of learning a foreign language in the doctoral school, almost all young researchers have mastered English well enough to easily read and translate scientific articles and participate in discussions of scientific topids.

— This will help them in their future research work: in preparing publications, communicating with colleagues at international events, conferences, and during internships, – assured Natalia Fokina.

She also noted that the atmosphere created by the committee members and staff of the Doctoral Studies Department at all the tests was conducive to communication and lively discussion with the young scientists. The examiners – researchers from KarRC RAS and other organizations – asked the doctoral students many questions, and the young researchers responded, demonstrating their knowledge and profound understanding of the material.

The Doctoral Studies Department thanks colleagues from other scientific and educational organizations, as well as all those who participated in the preparation and administration of the doctoral exams – instructors working at the Doctoral Studies Department, managers, specialists liaising with the department, and research staff from the scientific divisions of KarRC RAS: Natalya Belkina, Svetlana Egorova, Elena Ikkonen, Tatiana Ilyina, Nikolai Ilmast, Natalia Kukushkina, Sergei Minvaleev, to name a few.

We congratulate the doctoral students on successfully passing their exams and wish them new scientific achievements!