Research & Expertise

Master's Degree Increases the Starting Salary by 30%

Students who choose to pursue a master's or postgraduate degree are at a distinct advantage over those who stop after receiving a bachelor's degree, and can expect higher starting salaries and a wider career choice. Some students, particularly those studying the humanities, medicine, and natural sciences, are more likely to pursue further studies beyond the undergraduate programme, observesYana Roschina, senior research fellow at the HSE's Laboratory of Economics and Social Research, in her report 'Factors Influencing Russian Students' Educational and Employment Plans'.

Life expectancy grows in Russia

Life expectancy among Russians has been increasing over recent decades. However this is more recovery than growth – making up for previous declines. Mortality rates fell in the same areas that previously accounted for their growth in the late 20th, early 21st centuries – cardiovascular disease, and external causes of death: murder, suicide, alcohol poisoning and car accidents, according to senior academic researchers at the HSE’s Institute of Demography Evgeny Andreev, Ekaterina Kvasha, and Tatyana Kharkova.

Conference on the Journal as a Form of Academic Interaction

Conference on the Journal as a Form of Academic Interaction
From the 8th - 10th January, teachers at the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences Olga Savinskaya and Elizaveta Polukhina, and HSE graduate Anastasia Poilova took part in the The Qualitative Report Sixth Annual Conference organised by the international peer-reviewed journal Qualitative Report.

Border Policies and Cooperation Discussed in Israel

From December 7 to 11, 2014, an international conference called ‘Borders in the Interface: bordering Europe, Africa and Middle East’, took place in Israel. Organized by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva together with the EU’s 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, the event brought researchers from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America to present research on border cooperation and policies.

‘The Mind is Not a Mystical Entity That We Can Only Discuss in Theoretical Terms’

‘The Mind is Not a Mystical Entity That We Can Only Discuss in Theoretical Terms’
Melanie Sheldon, an instructor at the University of Missouri – Columbia, recently offered a lecture course at the HSE Winter School 2015 on the psychology of motivation, which was organized by the International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation, headed by Dmitry Leontiev. She also offered an open lecture on 'Sex and Evolutionary Psychology' at HSE. Melanie recently spoke with the HSE news service about her experience taking part in the HSE Winter School.

Abnormal Heat Leads to Higher Mortality

For the first time since the 2010 heat wave in Moscow, demographers have estimated the effects of abnormal heat, wildfires and air pollution on morbidity and mortality. Extreme heat in Moscow in the summer of 2010 caused nearly 11,000 additional deaths from diseases of the nervous and cardiovascular systems and respiratory and kidney conditions, according to a group of researchers including Tatyana Kharkova and Ekaterina Kvasha of the HSE Institute of Demography, members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, MosEconomMonitoring, and Swedish researchers.

‘Pay Attention to Reality’

‘Pay Attention to Reality’
On the eve of the new year we spoke to the head of the International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation, Dmitry Leontiev about why positive psychology does not solve problems but keeps them at bay, is uncertainty dangerous and why shouldn’t we battle with anxiety about the future.

South Korea Adopts the ISO 14001 Environmental Standard: A Question of Resources or Institutional Pressure?

On December 9, as part of a seminar run by the HSE’s Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology, there was an opportunity to meet Kyungmin Baek, new Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Sociology, who joined HSE in September 2014. In a report about South Korean firms’ comprehensive adoption of the ISO 14001 environmental standard, Baek explained how businesses’ motivation has changed. 

Vasily Klucharev: People are Conformists by Nature

Vasily Klucharev: People are Conformists by Nature
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Head of HSE School of Psychology Vasily Klucharev showed what occurs in the human brain when a person’s opinion conflicts with the majority’s opinion. What happens in the brains of nonconformists? What causes the «herd mentality»?

Children of Perestroika Afraid to Spend Money

Middle-aged Russians whose younger years fell in the era of change fear for their future and tend to save more money than they spend. In contrast, Russia's elderly and young adults are avid consumers: the former have survived hardship and scarcity – potential loss does not scare them, while the latter share the inherent optimism of youth, according to the paper 'Consumer Expectations of the Russian Public (1996-2009): Interconnections across Cohorts, Generations, and Ages' by Dilyara Ibragimova, Senior Researcher at the HSE's Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology.