Research & Expertise news at HSE University

Scientists at the Higher School of Economics, the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBCh RAS), and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center created a genetic model that helps to understand how the body restrains autoimmune and oncological diseases. The researchers published their results in Nature Immunology.

Established in Russia under Peter the Great and bestowed upon Catherine I who became its supreme head, the Order of Saint Catherine, or the ‘Order of Liberation’ (‘Orden osvobozhdeniia’), was the first order in Russia to be awarded to women. This small sliver of Petrine era history, as Professor Igor Fedyukin demonstrates in his new research, reveals the monarch’s wife’ serious political ambitions. Professor Fedyukin discusses how the history of the ‘ladies’ order’ reflects the former mistress’s plans to elevate her status and change the line of succession to the throne in her children’s favor.

Inscriptions, symbols and shapes of tombstones and cemetery layouts carry important messages about society, its values and hierarchies. Research by HSE scholar Svetlana Malysheva reveals some of the things Soviet cemeteries can tell us about the USSR and its people.

Sound artist Robert Elias Stokowy of Berlin and Yulia Chernenko,lecturer at the HSE Faculty of Communications, Media, and Design, have initiated a joint German-Russian artistic research project entitled, ‘Phenomenology of Darkness’.

Speaking at the Professor’s Forum on February 7, Yaroslav Kuzminov, Rector of the Higher School of Economics, noted that science in Russia, especially in Russian universities, is underfunded, and suggested several steps to support Russian researchers and help them reach their full potential.

Abusive supervisors who undermine and bully employees cost U.S. corporations an estimated $24 billion annually. Evgenia Balabanova, Maria Borovik and Veronika Deminskaya are the first researchers to study the problem in Russia.

Vera Gribanova, a graduate student in the Master’s Programme 'Governance of Science, Technology and Innovation'  runs a radio programme about great scientific achievements called ‘Scientific Light’ on the radio station ‘Moscow Talks’ (Govorit Moskva). This year her radio show has received the prestigious prize ‘For Loyalty to Science’, which is awarded annually by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.

HSE Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Aaron James Wendland, recently launched a popular philosophy column in a prominent British Magazine: The New Statesman. In this interview, we ask Aaron about his research interests, his experience at HSE, and the rationale behind his new column on popular philosophy.