The CISR infrastructure is one of its main resources. Forming the basis of the infrastructure are the Centre's library, thešresearch material archive, and the press archive. Researchers from all over the world have the opportunity to work at CISR as visting scholars, to consult with its researchers, and to participate in the scientific life of the Centre as well as become acquainted with St. Petersburg's community of sociologists. The Centre infrastructure is available to persons and organisations both from Russia and abroad.
The Centre library consists of more than 12,000 items (the library catalogue contains more than 33,000 records), including relevant publications in Russian, English and German. It also includes the Centre's large research archive, the archive of thešbiographical and task-oriented interviews collected during the research process, and sections of related news items in 60 research directions.
- consultations (for researchers)
Working as a resource centre presupposes consulting. The Centre researchers consult students and post-graduates from Russian and foreign institutions of higher education as well as young researchers, NGO representatives, journalists and public agents. The consultations are primarily conducted within the Centre's priority areas of research.
Cooperation with a number of city institutions of higher education, inlcuding the School of Sociology of Saint-Petersburg State University, the Saint-Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts, and the State Marine Technical University of St.šPetersburg, has been underway for several years. Students from these institutions have full access to the Centre`s infrastracture. CISR researchers often work as scientific co-advisers for master's theses and as dissertation reviewers for students and post-graduates.
CISR works in close association with NGOs and regularly consults Third Sector organisations, particularly those working on human rights and minority rights, as well as ethnic conflicts, nationalism and the prevention of racism. CISR's eco-sociologists also stay in very close contact with NGOs; they routinely consult the local communities and NGOs regarding the normalisation of the ecological situation in those regions, forest management, environment preservation, etc.
Journalists from key newspapers and TV-channels turn to CISR researchers for commentary on social problems and pressing current events. CISR researchers often appear as experts on television and radio.
- probations
In the Centre's 14 years of work, scores of Russian and foreign students and post-graduates from the universities of Germany, the US, Finland and other countries have had the opportunity to come to CISR as visiting scholars. Today CISR is negotiating thešformalization of its relations with a number of Scandinavian universities and colleges in order to facilitate more visiting scholar opportunities at the Centre, and to become a full member of the Northern universities and research centres network. These efforts are aimed at maintaining a proactive exchange of students and researchers.
Visiting students, post-graduates and young researchers at the Centre can benefit from the opinions of CISR researchers, and from taking part in the seminars and conferences organised by the Centre. They are also able to organise seminars on subjects of their interest. CISR researchers are always ready to provide visiting scholars working in Russia with access in the 'field' and help in establishing contacts with essential informants, and they are available to discuss the research materials and results. Thanks to the extensive network of partner organisations in different regions of Russia as well as the broad personal research networks of Centre researchers, CISR is able to help visiting scholars in finding partners and informants all over Russia. If thešsponsor organisation pays for its student or researcher, the visiting scholar is assigned a personal 'curator', who aims to give her/him detailed assistance.
Aspiring to develop the Russian sociological community and consolidate the network of research organisations studying thešproblems of the post-Soviet period, the Centre holds frequent seminars and conferences on a range of topics. These topics are generally linked to the subject and methodological priorities of the Centre. Primarily, these pertain to ethnicity and migration problems; nationalism and racism; human rights and minorities' rights; informal economic relations, especially the corruption phenomenon; modern social structures, NGOs and the regional problems of sustainable development; quality research methods in the social sciences, especially the biographical method, etc. Moreover, CISR regularly acts as a co-organiser for events that are close to the subject and methodological interests of the Centre.