Russian grant-holders opinion on competitive funding: Results of a survey

This paper describes results of a survey conducted among the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) grant-holders. The aim of this paper is to examine the attitude of grant holders to new multi-channel funding system and to assess its significance for Russian scientists involved in research in natural and applied sciences. It is a first attempt to get a fair and general picture of what scientists think about competitive funding. In 1999, 1440 questionnaires were distributed by mail. The response rate was 31.8%. The results of the survey clearly show that proposal writing has become a substantial part of research activity in Russia. Each respondent received more than 5 grants during 1993-1997. The RFBR and foreign funding agencies, particularly ISF, INTAS, and the Civilian Research and Development Foundation equally evaluated Russian scientists' performance: about 69.% of RFBR grant-holders were awarded a grant from foreign agencies. The present findings are being used, as a practical matter, to guide and inform the Ministry of Science and Technology Policy which is responsible for the promotion R in Russia to organize a special training for students and post docs on proposal writing.