Away With Red Tape: Research Office Opens at ITMO University

The Research Office is a front office of ITMO’s Department for Research and Development. Its five expert staff offer consultations across the following areas: general, technology, finance, and issues related to scientific activities (budget, non-budget, and target-funded). The office’s services are available to ITMO students and employees – everyone who participates in or would like to join research projects. 

The office consults on the following:

• pre-contract activities: approval of scope of work, schedules, cost estimates, and contracts;

• project activities: research process, key milestones, assessment of results, legal risks, and budgeting;

• project employment: employment for foreigners and Russian citizens, payments, and employment formats;

• travel and procurement: funding approval;

• technical issues: regulatory documentation, compliance review, registration of intellectual property, submission of technical documentation and reports, and who can access them;

• competition selection: how to apply for contests and tenders, prepare application documents, and assess the chances of winning state or commercial tenders. 

The opening of the Research Office is another step toward fostering a service-based approach to staff requests. Instead of reaching out to multiple departments, applicants can submit their documents just once to a single service – be that the Finance Office, the Student Services Office, the Research Office, or the Staff Support Office. If necessary, office staff will forward the request to relevant departments and return to the applicant with the final answer. This allows students and staff to save time and also unifies the university’s approach to business processes.

“The main mission is to remove the barriers between the form and the substance for researchers. For this purpose, we’ll be providing expert consultations on the single-window approach; this reduces bureaucracy to save time for science. This isn’t yet another department; it’s the singular services hub for researchers," notes Sergei Shavetov, the head of ITMO’s Department for Research and Development.

You can submit your request via a designated section at the university’s helpdesk service (available only in Russian) or email it to the Department for Research and Development at science@itmo.ru. You can also ask questions by calling +7 (812) 480-12-22.

The office can be visited from 9 AM to 7 PM, Monday through Thursday, and from 9 AM to 6 PM on Friday at Kronverksky Pr. 49, room 1222.