Research & Expertise news at HSE University

Fluency in foreign languages has multiple advantages in terms of cognitive abilities, communication skills, cultural awareness, and career advancement. But can bilingualism and plurilingualism (knowledge of multiple languages and related cultural contexts) contribute to creative thinking and one's ability to generate new ideas? Studies have shown that linguistic, intercultural and creative competencies are interrelated, and their synergy can give rise to plurilingual creativity. The following overview is based on several papers by Anatoly Kharkhurin, Director of the HSE Laboratory for Linguistic, Intercultural and Creative Competencies.

HSE University is hosting the XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development in Moscow from April 4–14. The conference has attracted over 3,000 leading researchers, experts, business representatives and government officials from over 30 countries. The leaders of HSE University—Rector Nikita Anisimov, Academic Supervisor Yaroslav Kuzminov, and President Alexander Shokhin—addressed the conference participants.

The Prime Minister of Russia has sent a message to the participants and guests of the XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development, which began on April 4, 2023.

Researchers of the HSE Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR), jointly with colleagues from research centres in Germany, Australia and China, examined the relationship between national variations in obesity rates and cultural dimensions. The associations they found were tested empirically through analyses conducted across 51 countries worldwide. Individualism appears to be associated with a higher prevalence of obesity, but only in the male population. The study findings have been published in Social Science & Medicine.

An HSE University delegation led by Vice Rector Victoria Panova made a working visit to India in March 2023. HSE representatives took part in the eighth Raisina Dialogue multilateral conference, spoke at a meeting within the framework of the Women 20 (W20), and also held a number of bilateral meetings with leading Indian universities.

On March 19, the second semi-final of the fourth season of HSE University Science Battles brought together the topics of cultural appropriation, pharmacological neural networks, prison jargon, and ‘diseases’ of higher education on the same stage. Students from various degree programmes presented their projects in the Community space. Read on to find out more about the performances featured in the semi-finals.

The G20 Research and Innovation Initiative Gathering (RIIG) on circular bioeconomy was recently held in Dibrugarh, India. Over a hundred scientists, representatives of government agencies, and members of international organisations from almost thirty countries (including Russia) took part. Alexey Ivanov, Academic Supervisor of the Centre for Technology Transfer at HSE University, spoke about the role of carbon farming in climate change mitigation and bioeconomy development and presented a project of the Pokrovsky carbon test site operated by HSE University.

The competition is open to HSE University research units planning to conduct joint projects with academic institutions, research organisations and state academic centres of the Russian Federation.