On December 17, 2021, recipients of the N.I. Konrad Awards 2021 were honoured at the ceremony held during the 14th annual conference of the Association of Japanologists in Moscow. Vasily V. Shchepkin, Candidate of Sciences in History, senior researcher at the IOM RAS, has received the Young Scholar award for great achievements in research on traditional Japan.

The N.I. Konrad Award, named in honour of the distinguished Soviet Japanologist Nikolai Iosifovich Konrad (1891–1970), was established on September 30, 2021 by the Council of the Association of Japanologists to reward researchers who have made significant contributions to the study of Japanese history, culture, foreign and internal policy, economics and society, science and technology, Japanese language, and Russia-Japan relations.