Researcher functional literacy development as an acute task of lifelong learning

formation and development of theoretical concept of literacy both in foreign education and in Russian pedagogical discourse are discussed in the article. Special attention is paid to the content transformation of the literacy category in the new realities of the XXIst century, when the trends towards globalization are increasing, the requirements for professional qualifications and the level of functionality of specialists, especially in the research field, are changing dramatically. It actualizes the possibilities of adaptation and use of «human literate» universal model formation proposed by B. S. Gershunskiy in regard to a modern researcher. In our opinion, each stage of the chain «literacy − education − professionalism − culture − mentality» implicitly or explicitly contains a functional component being transformed under the influence of various socio-humanitarian practices, but invariably associated with the researcher`s development in the system of continuing education. Similar changes are fixed in the professional culture and professional mentality of a researcher. On the basis of the idea offered by E. V. Balatskiy who singled out changing science technologies (semantic, information, personnel, industrial, instrumental) we were able to identify and present the cluster of problems that the changes cause in scientific activities of a modern researcher, and also to correlate them with the relevant types of literacy/functional literacy requiring continuous improvement considering the new challenges in the global research area.