A young scientist from YURSPU (NPI) Anna Ulyankina took part in the summer School RI - "Principal investigator", organized and held at the ITMO National Research University from June 21 to 26.

"Principal investigator" in translation can sound like "key, leading researcher". The main target audience of the School were young managers in the field of science who dream of opening their own laboratory of international level. According to the organizers, "the PI school will be most useful for candidates of sciences working in natural sciences who have defended their dissertation after 2015." Such a person is the assistant of the Department of "Technologies of New and mobile energy sources", Candidate of Chemical Sciences Anna Ulyankina.

- In general, I have only positive emotions from the event, - said Anna Alexandrovna. - The school is a great opportunity to gain new knowledge about the organization of a world–class laboratory and approaches to its development. It is important that we were given real tools and mechanisms to solve various scientific, educational and administrative tasks. A separate day was devoted to issues of interaction with the industry. The school, which brought together some of the most promising and active young scientists of our country, was a huge motivation for me to move forward, to work in the frontier (at the forefront) of science.

During the week, at lectures and seminars, "schoolchildren" learned what skills a competent manager should acquire, how to increase publication activity, how to scale the laboratory and communicate with customers.

A "leading researcher" in the modern sense is "not just a scientist or head of a laboratory, it is a scientific supervisor of a new formation who is able to find and implement projects at the very cutting edge of science, quickly assemble a team and give part of its creative functions to digital technologies."