Research & Expertise news at HSE University

Soviet-era postage stamps illustrate the country's history in miniature, from the early years following the Communist revolution to the 1980s' perestroika. Government and public attitudes towards philatelists reflected an overall distrust of any type of 'otherness'; indeed, why would anyone spend time studying and collecting postage stamps? Thus, it should come as no surprise that periods of philatelic internationalism were followed by times of isolationism and pressure on stamp collectors. Despite efforts to place philately within the procrustean bed of Soviet propaganda, people with a passion for stamps stood out from the crowd and were often perceived as dissenters. The discussion of Soviet philately presented below is based on a paper by philologist Konstantin Bogdanov, professor at the HSE Campus in St. Petersburg.

A team of researchers from the HSE Centre for Cognition and Decision Making and the Central State Medical Academy conducted a study on sleep disorders, mood and fatigue after COVID-19. These factors are interrelated and the researchers recommend a comprehensive approach to treat the problem effectively. The work was published in the journal Neuroscience and Behavioral Psychology.

HSE scientists Andrey Korotayev and Ilya Medvedev used machine learning (ML) to build an index of instability in the world. The new method made it possible to use a large number of variables and distribute them in non-standard fashion.

Medical advances are causing a gradual increase in average life expectancy. However, this comes at a price, as the number of cases of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases grows with age. Researchers from HSE University (Russia) and Northumbria University (UK) have found that bilingualism can slow down and mitigate the course of age-related changes in the human brain. The study was published in Frontiers in Psychology.

Participants of the discussion ‘Trading in Allowances for GhG Emissions at Sub-national Level: Ways to Use International Best Practices in Russia’ analysed how the emissions trading system will work and what place nuclear power will occupy in the carbon-free world. The event was held as part of the session ‘Problems of Decarbonization of the World Economy’ of the XXIII Yasin (April) International Academic Conference.

The annual event brings together researchers, businesspeople and governmental representatives, the president emphasised. He also said that the issues discussed at the conference include the most pressing problems of Russia’s socio-economic development, as well as global challenges.

Foresight and STI Policy are among the symposium topics of the XXIII Yasin International Academic Conference. How has foresight developed in Canada? How did academic life change during the pandemic? What can early-career foresight researchers expect? The HSE News Service discussed these questions with Jonathan Calof, one of the symposium’s speakers.

Inequality based on income, geography, gender, age, class and religion widens social gaps both within and between countries. During the XXIII Yasin (April) International Conference, experts discussed which dimensions of inequality have become especially important in the wake of the pandemic and the evolving economic crisis, and also examined how much more women work than men.