"We in the Russian Science Foundation do not sense any restrictions related to the well-known recent foreign policy challenges. Since the Foundation establishment, we looked for and adapted to Russian context the best international practices and grant funding procedures. As you know, like attracts like. The network of our foreign partners, with whom we succeeded to establish very trusting relations, is stable and somewhat expanding. RSF grantees actively cooperate with scientists from around the globe, they participate in major international collaborations and significant projects, continue to receive invitations to influential conferences, and publish the results of their studies successfully without any artificial restrictions in the most prestigious international journals. We do not see any reduction”, Sergey Konovalov, RSF international relations, told the participants of the conference "Science of the Future". "It is important to understand that the more original your idea is, the better and stronger your research project is worked out against the other scientists and your foreign peers - the lower possible external risks. The relations and the attitude towards us abroad depend largely on ourselves, the results of our work", he stressed.
When discussing in the context of building science bridges, who in Russia could be appointed today as "ambassadors of science", the spokesman of the Russian Science Foundation proposed to choose from the diverse pool of more than 5,500 principal investigators supported by the RSF in the last 5 years: "They are active outstanding scientists in various research fields, including social sciences, with an impeccable reputation both in Russia and abroad, spreading the new knowledge and breakthrough ideas that are in high demand everywhere in the world. There are many young scientists among them. It is possible to choose ambassadors of science, ministers-counselors and counselors. We could staff the whole “Embassy of Russian Science” with people of different categories and backgrounds".