Research at the Faculty
The Faculty of Social Sciences brings together leading specialists in sociology, political science, psychology, public administration, education, public policy, network analysis, and other fields.
The faculty includes a number of institutes, laboratories and centres engaged in both traditional social science and relatively new and developing areas such as computational social sciences, digital social sciences, neuroeconomics, cognitive neuroscience, and social neuroscience.
Research areas and structure
The faculty has a diverse structure that can be divided into five main areas:
1. Sociology & Demography
— School of Sociology;
— Institute of Demography;
— Centre of Longitude Studies ru;
— Centre for Social Organization Research of Labour and Business ru;
— International laboratory for Applied Network Research ru;
— Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology;
— Laboratory of Entrepreneurship Research ru.
2. Political science
— School of Political Science;
— Institute for applied policy studies ru;
— Joint Department with Centre for Political Technologies ru;
— Laboratory for Monitoring the Risks of Socio-Political Destabilization ru;
— Laboratory for Anti-сorruption Policy ru.
3. Psychology and neuroscience
— School of Psychology;
— Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience;
— International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation;
— Laboratory for Cognitive Research ru;
— Laboratory for the Cognitive Psychology of Digital Interface Users ru;
— Vision Modelling Laboratory.
4. Public Administration
— School of Public Administration;
— Institute for Public Administration and Governance;
— Institute for Social Policy;
— Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector.
5. Education
Academic research and grants
Our staff members prioritise high-quality research on the cutting edge of the social sciences. Our research is funded both by internal grants and external funds. In 2020, our research groups were awarded 6 Russian Science Foundation grants and over 10 grants from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. In 2021, we received 8 new Russian Science Foundation grants. Additionally, 7 research teams were awarded special internal Faculty grants in 2020. This number got doubled in 2021.
Our faculty members have published in leading Russian and international peer-reviewed journals, including Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience; The Lancet; Public Administration Review; Psychological Science; Problems of Post-Communism; Annual Review of Sociology; British Journal of Social Psychology; Gender and Society; Europe - Asia Studies; British Journal of Sociology; International Journal of Social Research Methodology; Social Science Research; Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, and other high-impact venues.
Our faculty members have also served in the editorial board of the Springer book series 'Societies and political orders in transition' that was launched in 2017 and includes over 10 book items today.
Journals
Faculty staff members chair the editorial boards of the leading Russian leading academic journals. In addition, our scholars are members of the editorial boards of leading international journals: American Political Science Review, British Journal of Sociology, Culture and Psychology, European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, Journal of International Public Administration, Mathematical Thinking and Learning, Social Forces, Studies in Philosophy and Education etc.
Achievements
We are #1 in Russia in the fields of Social Sciences, Sociology, Politics, Social Policy & Administration, Psychology according to a number of reputable university rankings, including the 2020 QS World University Rankings by Subject, the 2019/2020 Times Higher Education, and the 2020 Shanghairanking's Academic Ranking of World Universities.
We are proud of being ranked #48 in the world in the field of Politics & International Studies by the 2020 QS World University Rankings by Subject. We are also ranked #51-100 in the world in Sociology and Social Policy & Administration according to this renowned ranking.