Research & Expertise

On 1st to 3rd June, the remarkable Italian historian and one of the founders of microhistory, Carlo Ginzburg will give a series of open lectures at the HSE. Professor Ginzburg has been invited to Moscow by the Poletayev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities (IGITI). His translator, Professor at the School of Philosophy, Sergey Kozlov spoke to the HSE News Service about how he was inspired to translate Ginzburg’s work into Russian which led to them becoming firm friends.  

Geoffrey Decrouez is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Computer Science at HSE. He told The HSE Look about his research and teaching at HSE. 

On the 27th May 2015 Professor Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum, of the University of Tubingen will lead a discussion at the HSE Faculty of Law on Current Problems in International Law.  The discussion coincides with the launch of a second Russian edition of his authoritative textbook which describes the branches, institutions and fundamental concepts of international law and its development. The discussion is open to all and will be in English at 10.30 am in room 315, 17 Malaya Ordynka Street.Professor Graf Vizthum has talked to the HSE English News service ahead of the discussion about why international law is not at all dull and of the important role it plays in today’s globalised world.

On Tuesday, May 26, Franziska Keller, Ph.D. candidate at New York University and visiting researcher of the HSE International Centre for the Study of Institutions and Development, presented a report called ‘Shaking hands in public. What elite co-appearances tell us about the politics behind the scenes’. This seminar marks the 9th joint Research Seminar on Diversity and Development hosted by the International Centre for the Study of Institutions and Development and NES Centre for the Study of Diversity and Social Interactions.Keller, who is currently studying for a Ph.D. in the Department of Politics at New York University, recently spoke with the HSE news service about her study of Chinese elite behaviour and her plans to expand her research to include the Soviet and modern Russian political elite.

It is five years since the HSE began setting up international laboratories. HSE’s Deputy Vice-Rector, Marina Litvintseva, Head of Laboratory for Algebraic Geometry, Fedor Bogomolov, and Ronald Inglehart and Eduard Ponarin from HSE Laboratory for Comparative Social Researchreflect on the results of the work conducted last year and on the achievements of the laboratories. 

On the 15th May, 2015 Shimada Nobuo gave a lecture at HSE on Japanese Military Culture. The event was organised by the  School of Asian Studies at the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs. Shimada Nobuo brought some swords from his own workshop and allowed his audience to hold them while he talked about the enduring Japanese interest in weapons of war and the Japanese soul. Owner of the Yamashiroya gallery and specialist on ancient artefacts, Mr Nobuo advises the Japanese ministry of culture and works with the Hermitage and other museums in St Petersburg and around the world helping them with their Japanese collections. He gave his talk in Japanese with Russian translation. He gave this interview to the HSE News Service.

On Tuesday, May 19, at 6.00pm, Alain Blum (Centre d’études franco-russe de Moscou, INED and EHESS in Paris) will give a talk at the International Research Seminar in Sociology (School of Sociology (Myasnitskaya 9/11, room 424)) called ‘Forgotten stories of deportees in the USSR — The multiple lives of a single individual’. Ahead of his lecture, he agreed to speak with the HSE news service on a variety of topics, including his experience as a demographer, his transition into Soviet history, and his upcoming research plans.

On May 15, Dr James Canton of the University of Essex will deliver a lecture at HSE on ‘Wild Writing’, a form of literature that emerged in the mid-twentieth century as a novel way of understanding the urban landscape and nature. The author of numerous publications focused primarily on British travel writing in Arabia, Dr Canton’s lecture will focus on a discussion of local Essex landscapes.Ahead of his lecture, he agreed to speak with the HSE news service about how he became interested in travel writing, his current projects, and what he finds interesting in the Russian experience of travel writing.

On Wednesday, May 13, the International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation at HSE will host a lecture by Martin Lynch called ‘Motivation and Education: A Brief Introduction’. Lynch, who serves as Associate Professor of Counseling & Human Development at the Warner School of Education (University of Rochester) pursues research on the effects of social context on human motivation and personality development. Ahead of his upcoming lecture, he agreed to speak with the HSE news service about his current research interests and his significant experience working in Russia.

On April 30, the Laboratory for Comparative Social Research sponsored a seminar in St. Petersburg by Associate Researcher Francesco Sarracino on ‘Do people care for a sustainable future? Evidence from happiness data’. Sarracino is an economist at Luxembourg’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (STATEC) and specializes in social capital, economic growth and well-being; he recently spoke at length with the HSE news service about his research interests, implications of measuring happiness and wellbeing for policymakers, and his experience collaborating with the Higher School of Economics.