News

Resilience and well-being in difficult times can be developed via online interventions in the workplace. An international team of researchers from France, the UK, and Russia (with the participation of researchers from the HSE International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation) studied the effectiveness of SPARK Resilience, a programme for developing resilience, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the study were published in the PLOS One journal.

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.

On March 12, the HSE University Pokrovka building hosted an Open Day. Applicants and their parents learned about the rules of admission in 2023, the university’s campuses in four cities, educational programmes, opportunities for extracurricular activities, and more. At the entrance, volunteers handed out maps of the campus with event locations, so that everyone could plan their own route through the stands, workshops, and other activities.

On March 16, the results of the Open Doors International Olympiad for master’s and doctoral applicants were announced. The competition is organised by the Association of Global Universities with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo). HSE University is one of the Olympiad’s organisers and the site of its distributed project office.

The extracurricular life of HSE University is renowned for its sports, entertainment, charity and social projects. From traditional events such as HSE Survival, HSE New Wave, HSE Greatest Show and HSE Fest to house concerts of music clubs, student initiations, and inter-campus meetings—each event garners attention from outside the university as well. Anna Blyakhman, Director of HSE Campus in Nizhny Novgorod, tells us how the university manages to maintain such a high level of events year after year, and the role of extracurricular activities in education.

'Political Science and World Politics' is an English-taught Bachelor's programme which offers subjects in both political science and international relations. Students gain knowledge and skills which will help them to develop in various career directions ranging from state service to business. Yury Kabanov, Academic Supervisor of the programme, explains how the learning process is structured.

Having examined the impact of various factors on cryptocurrency returns, HSE economists found that fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices can be better explained by equity market risks than by factors specific to the crypto market, suggesting greater linkages between cryptocurrency and equity markets than previously believed. The study is published in a special issue of International Finance Review.

The HSE University Academic Writing Centre (AWC) was created to offer linguistic support to researchers writing articles in English. We spoke to the head of the AWC, Svetlana Suchkova, about the centre’s current initiatives, whether it has had to change the focus of its activities, and why HSE University staff come to the centre.