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The Belarusian Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research was established in Minsk by Resolution No. 176 of the Council of Ministers of the Belarusian SSR dated May 8, 1991 as the Foundation for Fundamental Research of the Belarusian SSR under the Commission of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the Belarusian SSR on Scientific and Technological Progress on the issues of scientific and technological progress. The main goal of the Belarusian Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research is financing fundamental and exploratory research in the field of natural, technical, social and human sciences carried out by scientific organizations and institutions of higher education.
By Resolution No. 236 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated April 3, 1996, the foundation was transformed into the Belarusian Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research (BRFFI). By Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 7 dated March 5, 2002 "On Improving Public administration in the field of science", BRFFI was incorporated into the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NAS of Belarus) with the rights of a legal entity.
BRFFR is a state non-profit organization without membership, the subject of activity of which is financing the conduct and testing of the results of fundamental scientific research selected by the
results of open calls (including the number of international calls). The calls are held on special behalf of the republican, local government bodies and the NAS of Belarus or on behalf of interested
legal entities and individuals acting as initiators, investors, and customers of relevant research projects.
The highest collegial body of the BRFFR is the Scientific Council which is formed from among the leading scientists (representatives of fundamental science) and performs its functions on a voluntary
basis. The Scientific Council determines the main directions and methods of activity of the BRFFR in the framework of the goals and main tasks provided by the Charter of BRFFR.
In order to organize evaluation of fundamental scientific research projects and applications for grants the Scientific Council has created 16 BRFFR expert groups. Scientific projects (except young
scientists' ones) which were allowed to participate in the call must pass through the state scientific examination under the State Committee on Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus.
The Scientific Council consists of 6 sections: physics, mathematics and computer science, technical sciences, chemistry and earth sciences, agricultural and biological sciences, medical and pharmaceutical
sciences, social and human sciences.
The Executive Directorate has 4 departments: department of administrative and organizational work; department of scientific, methodological and organizational support for research; International Affairs and information support department; finance and accounting department. The activities of the Foundation are controlled by the Board of Trustees of the BRFFR, which performs its functions on a voluntary basis.
At different times, the Scientific Council of the BRFFR was headed by academicians O. V. Roman (1991-1996), A. S. Rubanov (1996-2003), V. A. Orlovich (2003-2014), S. V. Gaponenko (2014-2023). Since 2023, the Director of the Executive Directorate and the Chairman of the Scientific Council of the BRFFR has been Academician A. E. Dayneko, and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the BRFFR is Academician A. V. Kilchevsky.
The budget of the BRFFR is formed from the republican budget, allocated by the NAS of Belarus, voluntary contributions of public organizations (associations) and individual citizens, targeted contributions
from customers interested in conducting basic research in specific areas or other revenues and incomes.
Annually, according to the results of republican, regional and international competitions and competitions of projects of young scientists, the Foundation finances more than 1000 short-term scientific projects,
including more than 600 international projects. About 5000 Belarusian scientists from organizations of various departmental affiliations and foreign scientists from 40 countries are participating in different
kind of projects, funding by the BRFFR. Moreover every fifth project is carried out by scientists from the regions of Belarus.
In 1991 - 2025 the BRFFR announced more than 440 calls for research projects. About 24.6 thousand applications from more than 300 organizations of the Republic of Belarus were reviewed. And over 10.8 thousand projects were accepted (including 2.9 thousand projects of young scientists).
BRFFR is the first national scientific foundation created in the CIS countries, the associate member of the International Association of Academies of Sciences (IAAS). BRFFR collaborates with international and
foreign organizations and foundations that support basic scientific research on the basis of 27 bilateral and multilateral agreements.
Since 1994, the BRFFR has been publishing the annual collections "Main results of fundamental research and search scientific works", since 1997 - the scientific, theoretical and information-methodical journal "Bulletin of the Foundation for Fundamental Research" (in Russian).
