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170 linguists were in attendance from across Russia and further afield for a conference held this year in celebration of Professor Nikolai Alefirenko, an Honoured Scientist of the Russian Federation. Vice-Rector Alexander Mamatov addressed the opening session held in the Scientific Council Conference Hall. He applauded the ongoing series of conferences and gave delegates a biography of Professor Alefirenko, before offering congratulations from the Rector, Professor Oleg Polukhin, and a formal certificate of Gratitude of the Chairman of the Belgorod Regional Duma for his great contribution to the development of the Region’s higher education system. This can be added to his Gumilyov medal, which was awarded to him by the Eurasian State University in Kazakhstan, that university’s highest award.

Professor Alefirenko had the pleasure of speaking to former colleagues and students via video link from St. Petersburg and Volgograd, and received messages of congratulations from Germany and China. After this, the conference went on to discuss a number of the most important topics for modern linguistics.