About the Consortium

The Centre for Social Studies and Prevention is a project initiated by the Consortium of Russian organizations having vast and successful experience of collaboration on public health issues: Regional Non-governmental Organization for Social Projects in the Sphere of Public Welfare "Stellit", the Psychology Department of St.Petersburg State University and The Pasteur Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in St.Petersburg. The Consortium was established in 2008 and came as a natural development of the partners' joint work initiated back in 2000 – 2003.

The Consortium is open to new partners, and in 2009 it was joined by the Department of Sociology of St.Petersburg State University.

The Consortium's objective is to bring social behavioural research data into the practice of combating social diseases, mainly HIV, in the Russian Federation.

One of the basic principles of the Consortium is to maintain an objective scientific stance towards all issues, which assumes that promotion/propaganda of any specific point of view concerning HIV prevention approaches and other related problems is unacceptable.

The Consortium members regard as one of their key goals the development of scientific and methodological products related to research and prevention that could be useful for decision- and policy-making in this area. The main activity areas of the Centre are as follows: initiation and implementation of social behavioural research, building various prevention programs upon the research results, development and improvement of study methodology applicable to the research of populations vulnerable to social disease, and also development of training programs for specialists involved in combating social diseases.

The work of the Consortium has received support from St.Petersburg Administration in the person of Vice-Governor Ms.L.A.Kostkina, and also from other Russian and international organizations.

Within their respective activities, the Consortium's members strive to generalize and then adapt the best international practices in this field to Russian situation. This is why the Consortium has been building up international contacts with key research centres doing HIV/AIDS-related projects and involved in other healthcare activities.

Among Russian partners of the Consortium is St.Petersburg Center for Prevention and Relief of AIDS and STIs and The Sociological Institute of The Russian Academy of Science.

The main foreign partner of the Consortium is the Interdisciplinary Centre for HIV/AIDS Research, Yale University, USA. Also we are proud to have promising partnerships with other leading foreign research institutions like Emory University, Virginia Commonwealth University, The Forum for Collaborative HIV Research (The George Washington University's School of Public Health and Health Services)

The centre was established as part of a project, financed by the US Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF).

In 2008 – 2010, with a financial support from the Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CDRF, USA), the Consortium has been doing a project that implies among other things the establishment of a Research and Methodology Center for Social Prevention of HIV/AIDS.

Within this project, the Centre carries out work in a number of its main activity areas:

Methodological analysis of previous studies of the HIV/AIDS problem among hard-to-reach groups practicing high-risk behaviour (IDUs, CSWs, MSMs);

Development of new methodological approaches to studies of formerly disregarded problems (behaviour of sex-partners of representatives of HIV-risky groups; sex and reproductive behaviour in HIV-discordant couples, etc.);

Working out of specialized training courses aimed at the development of skills of planning HIV/AIDS-related research among hard-to-reach groups, and at the design of effective prevention using the results of such studies.

See the Project News on other pages of our web-site and also in special issues of the Project Bulletin.

Member organizations of the Consortium

Regional Public Organization of Social Projects in the Sphere of Population’s Well-being "Stellit"

Regional Public Organization of Social Projects in the Sphere of Population's Well-being "Stellit" got an official state registration in February 2002. Up to that moment, it had existed in the form of a research team within the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “Stellit”s mission is to improve the health and social well-being of people by assisting a broad range of professionals, including policymakers, in implementing evidence-based, efficient social programs into practice. Our main fields of work are social research and prevention, social work, research and public activity.

Psychology Department of St.Petersburg State University

The Department of Psychology of St.Petersburg State University was founded in 1966. Today it is one of the leading educational and research centres within the University. Among the key activity areas of the Department are such as education and practice-oriented work, studies using modern psychological and social-psychological scientific methods, and also coordination of psychological and educational studies in other Russian universities.

The Pasteur Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in St.Petersburg

St.Petersburg Louis Pasteur Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology is a federal level research institution subordinate to the Federal Surveillance Service in the Field of Protection of Customers' rights and Human Well-being. It is included into a unified and centralized system of agencies and institutions responsible for State Sanitary Surveillance & Disease Control. The Regional North-Western (Federal District) Centre for Prevention and Relief of AIDS, being a subdivision of St.Petersburg Pasteur Institute, is responsible for methodological support for and control of all HIV-combating events in the North-Western Federal District of Russia.

Sociology Department of St.Petersburg State University

Established in 1989, the Sociology Department of the University has become one of the leading educational and research centres in Russia for teaching sociology, theorizing and doing applied sociological studies. The Department develops and delivers educational programs for Bachelor and Masters, PhD and Doctoral candidates. The Department of Sociology is one of the faculties involved in the implementation of the MA Public Healthcare program.

Interdisciplinary Centre for HIV/AIDS research at Yale University (CIRA)

CIRA, established in 1997, brings together scientists of 20 different disciplines and two institutions including Yale University and The Institute for Community Research, located in Hartford, CT, USA. CIRA's mission is to support interdisciplinary research focused on the prevention of HIV and reduction of negative consequences of HIV among vulnerable/underserved populations, nationally and globally. The Centre’s activities include both basic sociological and behavioural research and intervention studies along with policy studies. International level studies carried out by the Centre are focused upon sharing best practices between USA’s and other countries’ professionals in the area of research and prevention of HIV.

Contact details

center@ngostellit.ru