4th International annual conference of the LCSR - overview from the students

MA Comparative Social Research student shares her impressions on attending the conference

Olga Tomilova, 1st year student MA Comparative Social Research shares a short report on the recent LCSR conference:

"The 4^th International annual conference of the LCSR “Cultural and economic changes under cross-national perspective” took place in St Petersburg on November 10-14. I had a chance to attend four days of it.  The conference had an international format, so the researchers from all over the world, including Kenya and Israel were taking part in it. I had a good opportunity to meet the instructors who will be teaching courses in the second semester in St Petersburg.

Each day started with the plenary session with the keynote speaker like Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel presenting their recent research projects. This was followed by working sessions, where participants had to divide into two groups, according to the topics of their interest. During the working sessions, the speakers reported the findings of their current projects, and the discussants shared their ideas and advice regarding the presentations. A very wide range of topics were discussed, from theoretical (democracy, inequality, values) to more empirical (fertility, trust, divorces, suicides). Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to attend all the sessions; therefore, I chose the topics that attracted me the most and linked to my research interest and master thesis topic: values, fertility, well-being, trust, and loneliness.

Although this time I participated in the conference as a listener, the conference encouraged me to think of presenting there next time, because topics discussed there are linked to my research interests. The atmosphere at the conference was very friendly and favorable. I will encourage my classmates to attend this kind of events both at HSE and beyond."