SPTCC 2019 Review

There are stories that, though not necessarily authentic, are so plausible that you want them to be true. During my last stay in Russia, I was told an anecdote of this type. One of the lecturers at a recent summer school on formal methods organized by the Steklov Institute of Mathematics in Saint-Petersburg asked the participants to raise their hands if they worked for the industry. Around 70% of the audience raised their hands. Then the lecturer asked the industrial participants whether they perceived themselves as unful lled mathematicians and, again, around 70% of them acknowledged that. I believe this story because it perfectly matches my understanding of the state of fundamental research in Russia. Russian academia has been badly affected by political turmoils of the post- Soviet era. Decent full-time academic research positions are still in rare supply in the country. This is particularly the case in computing, where industrial job offers are numerous and attractive. As a result, a vast majority of Russian university graduates who, under more welcoming circumstances, would choose academic careers, take engineering, R&D and managing positions in the software industry. However, after getting a taste of science during their undergrad studies (of traditionally high quality), many of them hold a lot respect for fundamental research. They keep an eye on academic publications and, whenever possible, attend scienti c conferences and topic-speci c educational events.