Society news at HSE University

China was the first country to be hit by the coronavirus, and other countries have looked to its handling of the outbreak as a model. Former HSE student Sergey Stepanov, who has been studying and working in China for the past four years, shared his personal experience with the COVID-19 outbreak while in China.

HSE experts participated in the first international online forum, ‘The World, Post-Coronavirus: A View from the Heart of Eurasia’, which was held on April 28 in Ufa on the initiative of the Bashkortostan government. Scholars, businessmen, and politicians from different countries discussed threats, opportunities, and solutions for the economy and the social sphere.

Alexandra Gudimova, graduate of the WEaIA Faculty, decided to study at HSE University because of an injury. She had to leave choreography academy, forget about ballet and the Bolshoi Theater, and restart her life from scratch. Now she heads a thriving business whose success attests to her professionalism. In this instalment of Success Builder, Ms Gudimova talks about how to write a graduate thesis about a family business, ride the snacking wave and create fast food for city dwellers.

Unexpectedly, one of last year’s trends was…mushrooms. Several startups have shown that mycelium is a suitable material for eco-friendly fabrics, fashionable foods and the manufacture of drugs to treat clinical depression. ‘Prototyping Future Cities’ Master’s Programme graduate Anna Budnikova took the mushroom trend one step further by inventing a building material she calls ‘mycokarst’. She tells Success Builder what the difference is between eco- and bio-materials, why to make water from air and design ‘passive homes’, and who urbanists are and how they are changing our cities.

On March 18, the Older Generation Support Centre opened at HSE University. HSE News Service continues to interview students and employees of the university who are helping senior citizens through the difficulties of self-isolation by delivering medicine and food, sharing useful information, and holding online classes. Today, volunteers who teach foreign languages to pensioners speak about how they have become volunteers.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which was announced in March, is not winding down anytime soon. The coronavirus is especially dangerous for senior citizens. Due to the threat of infection, older Muscovites are spending their days in self-isolation. But many HSE students are working to ensure Moscow’s elderly don’t get too lonely by communicating with them remotely.

In an op-ed for RB K, HSE Rector Yaroslav Kuzminov laid out his predictions about the changes that await us in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic: on-site office workers will be reduced by a third, retail business will go completely digital, and both healthcare and education will undergo a radical overhaul.

Navigating the 24-hour news cycle with a critical eye is important regardless of whether one is currently in a crisis situation or not. However, extreme circumstances make careful news consumption all the more important. Especially when an abundance of information and the convenience of mobile technology makes any reader not only a consumer but a producer and distributor of mass media as well.