News

A delegation of teachers and students from the HSE Campus in Nizhny Novgorod participated in the IV Young Scientists Congress and the IX BRICS Young Scientists Forum held in Sochi. These two key events of the Russian Decade of Science and Technology brought together representatives of the academic and university community, state corporations, private businesses, and public organisations to envision the future of Russian science through the lens of the younger generation.

For the first time, the HSE MIEM Pseudoscientific Conference brought together students from different faculties to find answers to absurd but surprisingly profound questions. Why can't Skynet cook dumplings? How do the stars affect your grades? The organisers and participants of the conference proved that even the strangest joke can sound scientific if approached with a qualitative methodology.

In Russia, the annual cost of treating type 2 diabetes alone exceeds 500 billion roubles. Promoting healthy nutrition programmes can ease the burden on the healthcare system and increase life expectancy. This was the conclusion reached by economists at HSE University after analysing global experiences with government involvement in promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Syed Zeeshan Raza Zaidi is a 23-year-old international student from Karachi, Pakistan. He is currently a first-year master’s student in Cognitive Neuroscience at HSE University in Moscow seeking to explore the complexities of human behaviour and cognition from a multidisciplinary perspective. Syed spoke to the HSE News Service about why HSE is the best place to realise his potential, what makes Moscow and Karachi so similar, and why he misses home-cooked food most of all.

Personality traits such as conscientiousness, emotional stability, and an internal locus of control significantly influence one's lifestyle and longevity. Not only can personality traits influence health through beneficial and harmful habits but can also have a direct effect on mortality. Higher conscientiousness reduces the risk of premature death by 20 percentage points, while higher neuroticism increases it by 12 percentage points. These are the findings from a new study by Ksenia Rozhkova, Junior Research Fellow at the Laboratory for Labour Market Studies of the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences.

In early December, the HSE Cultural Centre hosted the university’s first-ever Ossetian Culture Day. It was organised by student associations from Ossetian communities at HSE, MSU, Gubkin University, and Plekhanov University. Before the grand concert, guests—including Igor Barskov, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania—were invited to sample traditional Ossetian cuisine and participate in a contest to win prizes. 

On December 9, 2024, the winners of the Vyzov Prize for Future Technologies were announced. Professor Leonid Fershtat from the Joint Department of Organic Chemistry with the RAS Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry was honoured in the ‘Future’ category for his advanced research on creating functional organic materials for multi-purpose use based on high-nitrogen molecular architectures.

On December 12, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented state awards to outstanding citizens of Russia at the Kremlin. Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) and President of HSE University, was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st Class.