The first ceremony of the "Professor of the Year" award was held in the Assembly Hall of the St. Petersburg State University on March 27, 2018. "Professor of the Year" is a public and professional honorary title conferred by the All-Russian Public Organization "Russian Professors' Assembly". The initiative to create the award as a sign of recognition of outstanding professional merit of higher education representatives was put forward and supported during the First Professors’ Forum that gathered more than a thousand representatives of universities from almost every region of Russia on February 1, 2018 in Moscow. The conference and the award ceremony were attended by representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Education, teaching and research staff members of leading Russian universities and university rectors. In cooperation with St. Petersburg State University and the Association of Leading Higher Educational Institutions, the Russian Professors' Assembly nominated the best professors in the natural sciences (chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, and earth sciences). The laureates of the award represent 10 universities, including Lobachevsky University, Tomsk State University, St. Petersburg State University, ITMO University (St. Petersburg), People’s Friendship University of Russia, MEPhI, Ural Federal University and some other educational centers.