The Science Republic, in partnership with Russian animated television series KikoRiki, held a joint film lecture as part of the Extra student life festival. Five HSE bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD students presented their research through the plots and characters of the popular animated series, demonstrating how familiar stories can provide a starting point for discussing complex scientific topics.

On October 19, 2026, the second international research seminar in the series ‘Family Policy and Fertility Support Policies in Northeast Asian Countries’ took place. The event focused on the relationship between housing affordability, family behaviour, and fertility in Russia and South Korea. It was organised by the HSE Institute for Social Policy, the HSE Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, and the Seoul National University Population Policy Research Centre.

In September, the All-Russian Student Rafting Competitions and the Russian Cup took place in the Leningrad region. A total of 22 student teams participated in the competitions. The HSE team returned home with 19 medals and 4 cups. Furthermore, on October 4, the HSE men's team became the winners of the first Moscow Student Sports Games in rafting.

How do international internships work, why should a humanities student study engineering, and why is the pace of life in Surabaya faster than in Moscow? For the first time in this academic year, students from Russia and Indonesia met at the Cultural Cafe to share their impressions about participating in HSE University–St Petersburg academic mobility.

The final of the ninth season of Science Battles took place at the HSE Cultural Centre in late September. Researchers presented four projects. The speakers explored the boundaries between humans and artificial intelligence, digital platforms and their users, the state and social infrastructure, as well as the distinction between how society defines an individual and how that individual defines themselves.

The HSE International Laboratory of Cluster Geometry focuses on establishing a new scientific discipline that brings together knowledge from different areas of mathematics. Its researchers study families of curves and develop methods that are used to investigate the physical microworld. The HSE News Service spoke with the laboratory’s head, Prof. Sergei Lando.

Specially for students of Tokai University (Japan), the team of the Centre for Russian Language and Culture at HSE University–St Petersburg developed an online programme that teaches the Russian language in modern animated cartoons. For three weeks, the students learned how to talk about their daily routine, learned about Russian holidays and traditions, and discussed education and cuisine—all through the lens of popular and independent cartoons.

On October 26, the first International Space Games will kick off in Moscow. Teams from Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan will take part in this new engineering project. Participants will live and work in a simulation of a real space mission. HSE University is acting as project initiator and operator.

Around 300 international students at HSE University took part in Russian Culture Day. Students from Nigeria, Ghana, Indonesia, Egypt, Vietnam, China, Pakistan, Brazil, and other countries joined their Russian peers to discover Russian traditions, try their hand at playing traditional Russian folk instruments, and take part in quizzes testing their knowledge of Russian history and culture.