Purpose. The purpose of the study is to analyse and resolve the legal conflict between the de facto recognition of a research group as a collective subject of cognition and its lack of civil-law legal personality, which gives rise to legal and economic risks. The article presents a comprehensive study of the legal status of a research group within the modern Russian legal order, drawing on foreign experience (EU and US programmes) and domestic grant-fund practice. Methodology: formal legal, comparative legal and interdisciplinary methods. Conclusions. The authors distinguish between the scientific subjectivity and the civil-law legal personality of a collective, and confirm the expediency of such a distinction. Historical analogues — temporary creative collectives (TCCs) of the Soviet period — are examined separately. As a solution, the concept of a dualistic understanding of the status of a research group is proposed, providing for the statutory consolidation of an “intra-group agreement” as a mandatory element of grant relations, clarification of the fiduciary duties of the group leader, and the creation of a register of research groups without altering their basic legal structure. Scientific and pratical relevance. The article is aimed at filling the gap in the legal regulation of research groups: the proposed approach preserves a stable legal architecture, reduces the legal and economic risks of grant-relation participants, and enhances transparency and manageability in the organisation of scientific activities without introducing a new organisational-legal form.