On October 30 the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) Vladimir Kvardakov visited the Tang Prize Foundation along with the head of the Department of Projects in Physics Aleksandr Akhmanov and the head of the Goal-Oriented Research Department Elena Rudtskaya. They were met by Tang Prize Foundation CEO Jenn-Chuan Chern, who introduced them to the Tang Prize and the reconstruction results from Typhoon Morakot in 2009. When discussing the inaugural Tang Prize laureates, they said that they greatly admire the contributions of Gro Harlem Brundtland in particular and that they remain hopeful to see a Russian become a prize recipient.
Kvardakov noted that each of the four categories of the Tang Prize is closely related to the future of humanity, making the prize as a whole an important one on the international stage. He also offered the support of the foundation in the nomination process and promotion in Russia.
On the topic of the four prize categories, Rudtskaya said that sustainable development and biopharmaceutical science happen to be two of the strengths of the RFBR; she added that the Russian Foundation is quite well versed in greenhouse-gas research and has seen much of this research published in international scientific journals. As it straddles Europe and Asia, Russia is geographically an ideal place for Europeans to study the areas of Chinese culture and thought. Indeed, the Russian Foundation for Humanities is home to many of the world's brightest Sinologists. Rudtskaya hopes that their superb scholarship will one day be recognized by the Tang Prize in Sinology.
Less bound by geography, the field of Sustainable Development increasingly affects us all, especially as natural disasters come more with more force and frequency. Typhoon Morakot is one such disaster from which Taiwan just recently recovered. During their visit the Russian team was shown a video which narrated the efforts of the Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council to rebuild and rejuvenate the areas and people devastated by the storm. Seeing the importance of disaster relief and reconstruction, and, more important—resiliency through sustainable practices—the team praised the Tang Prize for its influence and foresight in awarding contributors to this ever more relevant field.
