OREANDA-NEWS. Laureates of this year's Gabriel LamЁ¦ chair at St Petersburg University are to deliver a course of lectures to students in an initiative supported under the Gazprom Neft "Home Towns" corporate social responsibility (CSR) project.

The competition (for visiting professorships in honour of the distinguished French mathematician, physicist and engineer Gabriel LamЁ¦) is organised by St Petersburg State University with the support of the Embassy of France to the Russian Federation and Gazprom Neft. Eighteen high-profile mathematicians, currently working in France, took part in the competition, adjudicated by a jury comprising representatives from universities and mathematical institutions in France and St Petersburg. This year's laureates were Alexandre Zvonkine (Laboratoire Bordelais de Recherche en Informatique, UniversitЁ¦ de Bordeaux); FrЁ¦dЁ¦ric Klopp (Institut de MathЁ¦matiques de Jussieu, UniversitЁ¦ Pierre et Marie Curie); and Harald Helfgott (CNRS/Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris), each of whom will deliver a course of lectures at St Petersburg University as well as leading a seminar and conference in his research field.

St Petersburg State University is one of Gazprom Neft's most important partners in the fulfilment of educational projects throughout the city, which is home to the company's head office and research and development centre. Through its long-term cooperation with the university Gazprom Neft finances the development of its Chebyshev Research Laboratory, under the direction of Fields Medal laureate Professor Stanislav Smirnov, the original initiator behind the idea of conducting what was then an entirely new competition for Russia, for visiting professorships in honour of Gabriel LamЁ¦. Laboratory staff have the opportunity to engage in secondments abroad and, within St Petersburg State University, to exchange knowledge and experience with leading mathematicians, while scholarships endowed by Gazprom Neft are available to students and junior researchers.

Total investments by Gazprom Neft (together with St Petersburg State University) in Russian and international educational initiatives amounted to more than RUB30 million in 2013-14.