During the past decade, plasma physics research promoting the physics base of ITER and developing novel concepts such as a compact fusion neutron source has been conducted on the Globus-M spherical tokamak (ST) (R = 36 cm, a = 24 cm, Ip ⩽ 250 kA, BT ⩽ 0.4 T). Tokamak reconstruction is imminent. The upgraded tokamak Globus-M2 will have the same vacuum chamber and an enhanced magnetic system to provide BT = 1 T and Ip = 500 kA. In this paper we outline the most important research directions and the main results obtained on Globus-M and make some predictions about the possibilities and parameters of Globus-M2.