North Caucasus Federal University hosted events dedicated to the 105th anniversary of the birth of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Alexandrovich Polyakov. The International Scientific and Practical Conference "Socio-economic and demographic processes in Russia and foreign countries in the XVIII-XX centuries" was held today.

During the two-day visit of Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Kurchatov Institute, Doctor of Physico-Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a working meeting was held with Vladimir Vladimirovich, Governor of the Stavropol Territory, and Professor Tatiana Shebzukhova, Acting Rector of NCFU. The directions of cooperation between the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center and NCFU in the interests of economic development of the Stavropol Territory were discussed. During the meeting, the region's interest in replacing imported planting materials, imported seeds and imported highly productive livestock, as well as technologies related to complex fertilizers, was noted.

The conference was opened in the meeting room of the NCFU Academic Council, attended by more than 150 experts in the field of sociology and demography of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia. The welcoming address of Yuri Chaika, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus Federal District, was read out to the audience by Evgeny Tkachev, Assistant to the Plenipotentiary Envoy. It was noted that the issues raised at the conference are of interest as a unique material for assessing the impact of state crises and upheavals on the development of society, the mechanisms of its adaptation to various economic and social challenges. In this regard, the study of the heritage of the subjects of the North Caucasus is of exceptional importance.

"The macroregion can serve as a vivid example of maintaining demographic stability in an era of change, as well as the centuries–old experience of peaceful coexistence of representatives of hundreds of peoples on one earth," stressed the representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus Federal District.

Vladimir Vladimirov welcomed the conference participants.

– The importance of demographic processes in the development of the state should not be underestimated. Today, thanks to the decisions of our President and national projects, we have achieved sustainable economic development. The goal is to achieve sustainable demographic growth. The study of demographic processes and their understanding in historical retrospect is an important prerequisite for this. A scientific approach to demographic processes will help give us a forecast for the future and the necessary tools," said the head of the region.

Welcoming the participants of the conference, Mikhail Kovalchuk noted:

– We are alive because in the forties, the leadership of the USSR made the right decisions to create an atomic project, and in the noughties, the President of Russia defended the country's position by strengthening the nuclear shield. Therefore, today it is absolutely obvious that no one can defeat us. But now humanitarian knowledge, and above all historical knowledge, is gaining a decisive role. We have a huge number of people who know a lot, but few who can philosophically comprehend the processes that are taking place. Academician Polyakov was an encyclopedist and could look at today's processes from the height of his historical knowledge.

It should be noted that Yuri Alexandrovich Polyakov (1921-2012), Doctor of Historical Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Winner of the USSR State Prize and the Klyuchevsky Prize, Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Historical Demography and Historical Geography, the organizer of science has been an honorary professor of NCFU since 2003. One of the key scientific achievements of Academician Yu.A. Polyakov was the revival of historical demography. These studies are now continued by his students and followers at the Center for the Study of the History of the Territory and Population of Russia of the IRI RAS and at the North Caucasus Federal University.

It was emphasized with special pride that the daughter of Academician Elena Polyakova, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher at the Center "XX Century: Socio-Political and Economic Problems" at the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor at the State Academic University of Humanities, took part in the conference among the honored guests.

– The holding of the conference at the North Caucasus Federal University is symbolic. The initiative to hold it was taken by the Humanitarian Institute, whose historians and Academician Polyakov were connected by long-term friendship and fruitful joint work. In 2003, Yuri Alexandrovich Polyakov was elected Honorary Professor of our university, and today his portrait adorns the university gallery. The legacy of Yuri Alexandrovich Polyakov is continued by young researchers. Our scientific school of Caucasian Studies is one of the oldest in the region," said Professor Tatiana Shebzukhova, Acting Rector of NCFU.

Dmitry Sudavtsov, Acting Chairman of the Duma and First Deputy Chairman of the Duma of the Stavropol Territory, emphasized the role of science in shaping the political landscape in his speech.

The conference was attended by representatives of the scientific community from Armenia, Moscow, Grozny, Nalchik, Makhachkala, Voronezh, Saratov, Pyatigorsk.

Based on materials from the Russian Academy of Sciences