Having heard and discussed reports by the chairmen and deputy chairmen of the merit review panels, the board of the Foundation notes that, during the period from December 20, 2007 till March 11, 2008, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research:

-     carried out a large body of work to merit-review applications submitted under the 2008 competitions (8,534 applications were reviewed under initiative-based research projects (a), applications to take part in continuous competitions for projects to organize Russian and international scientific events within the territory of Russia (g), for projects to organize the participation of Russian scientists in international scientific events abroad (z) and for projects to hold international competitions);

-     8,663 reports for 2007 were merit-reviewed on various projects, both continued and those about to be completed, under the competition for initiative-based projects and 41 reports on publishing projects;

-     1,195 reports were reviewed under current projects as part of regional competitions;

-     new agreements between RFBR and the administrations of a number of regions of the Russian Federation on conducting joint regional competitions were prepared and signed;

-     new agreements between RFBR and foreign scientific organizations on conducting joint international competitions were prepared and signed;

-     a report was prepared for submission to the Government of the Russian Federation on the activity of RFBR in 2007.

The Board of the RFBR does hereby resolve that: -

1.      The report for submission to the Government of the Russian Federation on the activity of RFBR in 2007 be approved.

2.      The final reports on completed initiative-based research projects be approved.

3.      The lists and amounts of funding to supported continuous projects determined based on recommendations made by the expert panels and also lists of rejected continuous projects under the main a competition for initiative-based research projects, under the r regional competitions and under the d competition for publishing projects be approved.

4.      Lists of new projects supported based on the results of merit reviews and recommendations of expert panels on funding such projects in 2008 under the a competition in all knowledge areas be approved.

5.      6 applications should be forwarded for additional merit reviews under the a competition.

6.      Lists of projects rejected by expert panels under the a competition for 2008 be approved.

7.      Reports by the chairmen and deputy chairmen of the expert panels be approved.

8.      Changes in the Statute on the RFBR Program Young Scientists Mobility be approved, and competitions under the RFBR Program Young Scientists Mobility be held in 2008. The main competition for 2009 in the knowledge areas supported by RFBR and in the a, d, r, g, z, k and ano competitions types be announced.

9.      Should be continued regional competitions organized with the administrations and regional governments of the following regions: the Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Vladimir, Volgograd, Voronezh, Jewish Autonomous, Ivanovo, Irkutsk, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Lipetsk, Murmansk, Novgorod, Nizhy Novgorod, Orenburg, Orlov, Samara, Sakhalin, Sverdlovsk, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver, Tom, Tula, Ulianovsk and Chelyabinsk regions;

10.  with the regional governments of the following territories: Altay, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Primorsky and Khabarovsk;

11.  with the regional governments of the following republics: Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karelia, Mari El, Sakha (Yakutia), Tyva, Tatarstan, Khakasia, Udmurtia, Chuvashia;

12.  and also held together with the Far-Eastern, Siberia and Urals sections of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

13.  Lists of supported and rejected projects under new regional competitions held jointly with the republics of Bashkortostan and Tyva, the Irkutsk, Murmansk, Nizhny Novgorod regions and recommendations on their funding in 2008 be approved.

14.  International competitions held in 2007 should be funded in 2008: RFBR-DFG (Germany), RFBR-CRNS (France), RFBR-CERN, RFBR-AF (Finland), RFBR-JSPS (Japan), RFBR-MST (India), RFBR-NSFC (China), RFBR-NSC (Taiwan), RFBR-RS (Britain), RFBR-SNSF (Switzerland), RFBR-BONUS (Baltic Countries Community), RFBR-VAST (Vietnam), RFBR-MECSM (Mongolia).

15.  The international competition between RFBR and NWO (the Netherlands) be held and funded in 2008.

16.  The following joint competitions for research projects with funding to be opened in 2009 should be announced and held in 2008: RFBR-STRCT (Turkey), RFBR-CSIC (Spain), RFBR-CRNS (France), RFBR-EINSTEIN Consortium (Italy), RFBR-ASF (Austria), RFBR-MSTI (Israel), RFBR-CRDF (USA), RFBR-NSF (USA), RFBR-NSFC (China), RFBR-NSC (Taiwan), RFBR-JSPS (Japan), RFBR-VAST (Vietnam), RFBR-MECSM (Mongolia).

17.  Changes in the conditions of the joint competition held by RFBR and the Helmholtz Association (Germany) in 2009 and the joint competition held by RFBR-NSC (Taiwan) be approved.

18.  The results of negotiations, the preparation of new agreements and competitions to be held jointly with the Spanish National Scientific Council, the Community of Baltic Countries under the BONUS program, the National Institute for Agricultural Research in France, the National Science Foundation of the United States, the U.S. Civil Research and Development foundation, the National Council for Scientific Research of Argentina and the Ministry of Education and Culture of Uruguay be approved.

19.  Agreements on cooperation between RFBR and the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Foundation for Development of Science of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia and the National Academy of the Kyrgyz Republic be approved.

20.  Negotiations on holding joint competitions with the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Foundation for Development of Science of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia and the National Academy of the Kyrgyz Republic be held in 2008.

21.  The following international competitions held in 2007 together with CIS countries should be funded in 2008: RFBR-BRFBR (Belorussia), RFBR-NAS of Ukraine, RFBR-AS of Moldova, RFBR- Committee for Coordination of Development of Science and Technologies under the Cabinet of Ministers (Uzbekistan).

22.  A competition for financial support to be provided to conduct initiative-based oriented research in the priority areas of science and technology in the Russian Federation be held in 2008.

23.  Competitions for grants to be awarded to proposals to conduct initiative-based oriented fundamental research be held in 2008 together with the following federal agencies, services and academies having government status:

-        Federal Agency for Industry;

-        Federal Agency for Atomic Energy;

-        Federal Space Agency;

-        Federal Service for Technical and Export Control;

-        Federal Service of Russia for Hydrometeorology and Monitoring of the Environment;

-        Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology;

-        Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences;

-        Russian Academy of Medical Sciences;

-        Russian Academy of Architecture and Constructions Sciences.

24.  The new personal compositions of expert panels in knowledge areas supported by RFBR and under competitions of oriented and targeted basic research be approved.

25.  Expert panels in the areas 01-08 are instructed to form work groups to make changes in the RFBR classifier in order to include therein new topics associated with an integrated program for the development of nano-technologies.

26.  The name of the classifier section in the 01-217 direction be changed into Mathematical Models and Methods for Protection, Transformation and Transfer of Information.

27.  A competition for projects in the development of the material and technical basis of scientific research, competitions for projects to provide express support to scientific research and a competition for popular scientific articles to be held in 2008.

28.  In order to provide information resources under scientific research projects, it is resolved that an online subscription be held in 2008 for online access to the electronic versions of the worlds leading publications recommended by the Board of the scientific electronic library of RFBR.

29.  The work of the Bureau of the RFBR Board be approved, and resolutions of the Bureau for the period from December 20, 2007 till March 11, 2008 be approved.