Research & Expertise news at HSE University

Alexei Starobinsky, Professor in the HSE Faculty of Physics, has been elected Foreign Associate at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Previously, he has served as an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences of Germany (Leopoldina), the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and two Indian academies – the Indian National Science Academy (New Delhi) and the National Academy of Sciences (Allahabad).

A new study by HSE researchers has uncovered a new brain mechanism that generates cognitive dissonance – a mental discomfort experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs or values, or experiences difficulties in making decisions. The results of the study have been published in the paper ‘Open Access Neural Mechanisms of Cognitive Dissonance (Revised): an EEG Study’in The Journal of Neuroscience. 

Dr Elyssebeth Leigh, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Technology, Sydney – Australia will be visiting HSE Moscow to give lectures and take part in discussions at the HSE Institute of Education on May 15-19, 2017. She has been working for over 30 years as an educator and learning designer in workplaces and academic settings. As an experienced adult learning facilitator she has published four books and numerous articles and conference papers on learning and teaching. Much of this work concerns the use of simulation in learning and research.

Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism at HSE is regularly holding events and activities open to the general public. Deputy Dean Vera Leonova told The HSE Look about the goals of such open projects, benefits of collaborations and future plans of the school.

A comparative cross-cultural study conducted by the HSE International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation has found that Russians tend to be as open with their friends as Americans, but unlike Americans, Russians prefer to hide their happiness when talking to strangers or government officials. These findings were published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology in the paper Russians Inhibit the Expression of Happiness to Strangers: Testing a Display Rule Model.

Within its 'University Open to the City' project HSE holds many different lectures and discussions at various city venues, such as Moscow museums and Cultural Centre ZIL. Following the successful experience of HSE Open Talks lectures at HSE Day in September for the last three years, the university launched HSE Talks, a regular English-speaking series of public lectures, held at a coworking cafe. From February to April five speakers from the Faculty of Social Sciences gave their public talks, and The HSE Look talked to one of them, Assistant Professor Ekim Arbatli, to learn more about her impressions from participating in the project.

As part of the HSE April Conference, Olga Dragoy, Head of HSE Center for Language and Brain (Neurolinguistics Laboratory), presented some of the cutting-edge methods of preventing speech disorders in Russian-speaking patients with brain pathology, including the first Russian-language intraoperative naming test developed by the laboratory. All test materials and instructions are available for free and can be used in clinical practice.

Traditionally, postgraduate studies have been considered a school of teaching and research and a step towards an academic career. Today, however, many postgraduate students see their future outside academia and plan a corporate career instead. According to Ivan Gruzdev and Evgeniy Terentev, only 56% of postgraduate students plan a career within the academic environment.