Publicity helped: scientists from Karelia received partial incentive payments

At the Karelian Scientific Center, young scientists from the Institute of Forestry were partially able to secure the payment of incentive bonuses for scientific publications that they not given in 2025 year.

"The publication and distribution of the letter worked, and we received a partial payment of the incentives. Yes, the management of our Forest Institute tried to negotiate a larger sum with the management, but only part of it was approved. But nevertheless, the publicity worked!" said Olga, Maria Ershova, junior researcher at the forest technology laboratory, wrote to the Regional Aspect publication.

Yershova, however, says that not all of the research center's departments have paid out the money, and they still haven't received an official response on how the incentive bonus is calculated and paid. She says they "haven't even sent a formal reply."

Now, employees of the Institute of Biology, one of seven scientific institutions that make up the Karelian Research Center, which produces up to 30% of scientific publications annually, are sending letters to management.

Institute employee Ekaterina Antonova told Regional Aspect that there's not enough money for research supplies or to fully employ young scientists. She said the institute's director explained at an academic council meeting that if incentive bonuses were paid, the institute might not have enough money to cover salaries by the end of the year. 

Incentive payments can often exceed the salary of young scientists, which is now is about 27 000 rubles. 

Photo: Forest Institute research expedition, Independent Scientists of Karelia channel.