HSE Announces Student Research Competition
Winners of the 2013 research competition receiving their certificates
Students from universities in Russia and abroad have until October 31st to submit their applications for HSE’s open competition for research conducted in business informatics, computer science, mathematics, media communications, and political science.
This will be the 14th year of the HSE student research competition, which began as a student initiative. The competition now covers 20 different fields of study, five of which will be open not only to HSE students this year, but to students from other universities as well. Each area will feature two competitions – one for bachelor’s students and one for master’s students and 2016 graduates. Mathematics is one of the fields open for all students who submit an application.
‘The open competition is an excellent test, as we want to give our students the opportunity to compete not only with one another, but with students from other universities as well,’ comments one of the competition’s organisers, Tatyana Zakharova. ‘I think it’s good for our researchers to see what’s happening around them, and this is true for the academics whom HSE hires as part of its international recruiting process, as well as for students who are interested in research and just starting out in their academic career.’
Projects are being accepted in English and Russia on the competition’s website. The application window closes on October 31, 2016.
Winners and laureates will have the opportunity to participate in HSE’s student research conferences in their respective fields, and they will also have their work published in a collection of some of the best works.
For more information on how to prepare and participate in the competition, please email tzakharova@hse.ru or call 8 (495) 772-95-90 (extension 22557).
Let’s see what past participants have to say about the competition.
Yulia Zhestkova, winner of the 2015 student paper competition in economics, University of Chicago PhD student
I submitted my paper for the competition when I was in my senior year of undergrad. By that time, I had already made a firm decision to continue on into the academic world and conduct research. When you make your first independent steps as a researcher, it’s really difficult to assess your own successes objectively. The student paper competition is an excellent opportunity to have your work professionally assessed by experts in the field you specialise in. For me personally, this gave me a sense of confidence that the beginning researcher does not always have enough of, but that is so important to keep you going. It’s what helps you not give up before making substantial progress.
First and foremost, I would tell participants of this year’s competition not to be afraid to send in their work. I understand that it might be scary and it might not feel that great to get a low evaluation and not take home a prize, but this shouldn’t discourage you. On the contrary, this will drive you to work on yourself and to do better next year.
Alexey Rolich, winner of the 2013 student paper competition in business informatics, assistant in the HSE MIEM School of Computer Engineering
I took part in the student paper competition on three separate occasions – in 2013, 2014, and 2015. At the time, I was researching the Internet of things (IoT) and IoT object interfaces. This research turned into the paper I submitted for the student paper competition and subsequently to other competitions as well. I ended up winning the HSE student paper competition in 2013. I didn’t win anything in 2014, but thanks to the feedback I got, I finished working on my project called Public Charger. Public Charger won a START grant, as well as several other competitions.
I’m now continuing my research on this topic in graduate school. Everything worked out to where I now have two projects. The first is innovative in nature and concerns a more practical field of study that is now turning into innovative entrepreneurship. The second is purely academic and focuses solely on academic research.
There are a lot of Russian and international student paper competitions that allow students from some of the world’s best universities to compete with one other. An example is the Science of the Future forum, which recently took place in Kazan. If the HSE student paper competition develops in this direction, then competition in certain fields will undoubtedly skyrocket, which will push students and researchers to view their work more seriously and responsibly.
Alexandra Kolesnik, winner of the 2013 student paper competition in history, HSE graduate student, Research Assistant with the Poletayev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities
The first time I took part in the research competition was at the Russian State University for the Humanities, where I graduated. I then started my master’s programme at HSE and decided to participate in the competition again since the benefits of competing were rather obvious to me. Firstly, when I interviewed to be a research assistant at Poletayev Institute (and then when applying for post-graduate school), it seemed that the first thing people looked at were my publications and the second was my experience with student research paper competitions. Secondly, if you don’t have any serious publication experience, the student research competition could be the first serious step you take to gain this experience. Experts will read and review your work, which really improves the overall quality of your research. And at that point, it’s no longer important whether you won or not. It’s important that you submitted your work and thereby made it through the first part of the competition.
In addition, winning the HSE student research paper competition could help you get a larger scholarship or become part of a certain research group if that’s what you want. Lastly, practically all applications for Russian and international scholarships have a separate line asking about your participation in student research competitions.
Regulations on the Student Initiatives Competition ETC (PDF, 181 Kb)