On February 16, 2011, at the meeting of the Dissertation Council of the IOM RAS the PhD Dissertation of V.V. Shchepkin, Hayashi Shihei's Kaikoku Heidan [Трактат Хаяси Сихэй «Кайкоку хэйдан»], supervised by Dr V.Y.Klimov, was defended.

13 members of the Council headed by Prof Dr E.I. Kychanov took part in the meeting. Two official opponents such as Dr A.V. Filippov, member of the Dissertation Council, and Dr A.Y. Sinitsyn, Moscow State University,  delivered their positive reviews.

During discussion Dr L.V. Zenina (St Petersburg State University) and Dr L.Yu. Kroll, member of the Dissertation Council, delivered their opinions.

The Dissertation Council decided unanimously to petition the Russian Highest Classification Committee for granting V.V. Shchepkin the PhD degree.