Abstract
Modern ethnology acts not only as a science of ethnic communities and their culture, but also as a tool of social policy designed to harmonize interethnic relations in complex societies. The purpose of the article is to identify the contribution of the Udmurt State University’s scientific ethnographic school to the development of applied ethnology in the Udmurt Republic. The founder and leader of the scientific school is Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor V.E. Vladykin, a graduate of Moscow State University Department of Ethnography. The professor’s students and followers include well-known scientists, many of whom have found themselves of demand in other fields, such as public administration, socio-political activities, and in the sphere of culture. The representatives of the scientific school are prominent Russian ethnologist, Finno-Ugrian scholar, Director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.E. Zagrebin, Chairman of the General Council of the Assembly of Peoples of the World, member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation on Interethnic Relations S.K. Smirnova. Among the achievements of the scientific school is the idea of a Large Ethnographic Dictation, the authors of which were awarded the prize of the President of the Russian Federation in 2025 for their contribution to consolidating the unity of the Russian nation. The article reveals the key areas of activity of representatives of the scientific school – in the university system of training historians, in the scientific support of state nationality policy and support for civil ethno-cultural initiatives, in ensuring the preservation of ethnographic cultural heritage and intangible ethno-cultural heritage. It is pointed out that the UdSU School of Ethnography scholars have been actively involved in solving urgent socio-economic problems facing Udmurtia, especially since the mid-1990s, which required the use of purely ethnological knowledge and technologies.