Research & Expertise

The expert of the new issue of the "+/- 10 minutes" column is Anna Kartasheva, PhD in Philosophy, research fellow at the International Laboratory for Applied Network Research at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, and director of the publishing house "Business Book". In the lecture, we will look at how data becomes information, and information becomes knowledge. We will also discuss whether data can be a neutral and error-free record of facts, and how the specifics of knowledge formation affect modern information systems.

A special issue of the journal 'Sociology: Methodology, Methods, Mathematical Modeling' (Sociology:4M) has been published, dedicated to the methodology of network analysis in social sciences. The guest editor of the issue was the head of ANR-Lab Daria Maltseva, and 3 out of 5 articles were written by the laboratory members.

Irina Kulinenko, 2^nd year student of the program “Politics. Economy. Philosophy." took an active part in the VII BRICS International School, which was held from November 13 to 18, 2023.

On September 1st, a new season of the open Student Research Paper Competition (SRPC) started. This competition is aimed at developing the potential of university students who are interested in academic activities. Students, as well as 2023 graduates of Russian and foreign universities, can submit their papers for the competition until October 15^th, 2023. This year SRPC turns 20 years old, throughout the competition’s history, Vadim Radaev, HSE University’s First Vice Rector, has been the chair of the organising committee. In today’s interview, he talks about the history of the competition and the key stages in its development.

The journal 'Sociology: 4M' and the International Laboratory for Applied Network Research announce the preparation of a special issue of the journal dedicated to the methodology of network analysis in the social sciences. Guest editor – candidate of social sciences Daria Maltseva. Estimated release date of the issue is December 2023.

On April 12, 2023, within the framework of the XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development, a session "Sociocultural Potential of Museums: Identity and Local Solidarity" was held (Moderator: N. Bolshakov (ILSIR, HSE University). 

On March 15, Judas Everett defended his doctoral dissertation ‘The Effect of the Patterns in the Dissolution of Communism on the Transition to New Systems in Eastern Europe’, which investigates the relationship between the demise of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe and the quality of democracy in the post-communist regime. The defence took place remotely. His academic supervisor was Professor Andrey Akhremenko of the HSE University School of Politics and Governance at the Faculty of Social Sciences. In his interview, Judas talks about the topic of his research and explains why political science is more important than ever.

The HSE Working Group “Russia Strategic Studies” in partnership with the IMEMO’s Center for International Security has conducted a joint seminar “The Role of Strategic Stability in Russian Foreign Policy”.

On 20-21 October 2022 School of Politics and Governance at HSE University hosted the Fifth International Symposium on Development and Governance in the BRICS.It gathered the speakers from ten countries, who discussed the public administration reforms in general, and such their aspects as tackling the consequences of COVID-19 pandemics, international project management, risk management and digitalization.

The start of a new academic year is an excellent time to plan the next steps in your academic career. On September 1, HSE University announced the start of its annual Student Research Paper Competition (SRPC-2022). Participation is open to students of Russian and international universities and to 2022 graduates. Last year, a total of 2,196 papers were submitted to the SRPC, of which 435 were from external participants.

In November 2021, HSE University’s School of Politics and Governance and the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia (New York University) started a new partnership project that involves regular joint online seminars. Denis Stukal, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Deputy Director of the Institute for Applied Political Studies, has commented on the initiative.

In March 2021 the HSE University and Freie Universität Berlin (FUB) were awarded an institutional partnership grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to foster cooperation between these two institutions and to involve in it a broader group of younger fellows and doctoral students. On May 27th this project will start with a digital workshop "Varieties of Populism in East and West" (deadline for submission is April 23rd; for more info about the workshop see the link at the end of the news). We interviewed Professor Dr. Katharina Bluhm, director of the Institute for East European Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, about the goals of this project and prospects of cooperation between the HSE University and the FUB.

At the recent seminar of the HSE International Laboratory for Social Integration Research, Isaac Olumayowa Oni, HSE doctoral student and lab research assistant, spoke about African migration to Russia. In an interview with HSE News Service, Isaac discussed his research and talked about what it’s like to study at HSE and live in Moscow.

Researchers at the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience have shown experimentally that economic activity can actively change the brain. Signals that predict regular financial losses evoke plastic changes in the cortex. Therefore, these signals are processed by the brain more meticulously, which helps to identify such situations more accurately. The article was published in Scientific Reports.

Vladislav Khvostov, a second-year student of the Doctoral School of Psychology at HSE University, was recognized with a Graduate Conference Award for Student Members from the Psychonomic Society. Every year a total of 20 graduate students in cognitive psychology receive this prestigious international award in psychology. HSE News Service spoke with Vladislav about the award, his interest in cognitive psychology and research.

On November 6, Dr. Klaus Boehnke, Deputy Director of the HSE Centre for Sociocultural Research, presented his report entitled ‘Does COVID-19 propel value change: A comparison of Germany and the United Kingdom?’ at the ‘Culture Matters’ research seminar. HSE News Service has talked to Dr. Boehnke about various aspects of the value changes and socio-economic consequences of the pandemic in Europe and Russia.

Due to a longstanding lack of evidence-based information about freelancers, Andrey Shevchuk and Denis Strebkov, senior research fellows at the HSE Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology, have endeavoured to dispel misconceptions about this growing class of workers. Though remote work has become particularly relevant during the pandemic, the researchers identify several trends that have determined the direction of the remote job market even before the coronavirus outbreak.

HSE University, together with the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, MGIMO, and the RAS Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, received a grant for their proposed world-class research centre as part of Russia’s National Project for Science. It is the first time the national project has awarded a research centre proposal in the humanities and social sciences.

On April 30, Tomas Jurcik, Assistant Professor at the HSE School of Psychology, held the discussion ‘Healing from a Pandemic: Individual Perspectives’, as part of Mental Health Spring, organized by the HSE Psychological Counselling Centre.

On February 13, the regular meeting of the Contemporary Issues in Political Science Research Seminar was held at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Associate professors of the School of Politics and Governance Ekim Arbatli and Dina Rosenberg presented the results of their research ‘United we stand, divided we rule: How socio-political polarization erodes democracy’.