HSE Research Subdivisions Maintain Usual Intensive Workload Despite Remote Format

According to the results of a survey conducted by the Office of Internal Monitoring, HSE research subdivisions were able to maintain the intensity of research discussions during the quarantine.

51 HSE research subdivision heads participated in the survey. In the second semester of the last academic year, most of them conducted research seminars 2-3 times a month or more, and a third of them conducted them once a month.

About half of the respondents noted that after the transition to the remote work format, the participation of colleagues from foreign universities in research work increased. In addition, almost all participants reported that they have begun to actively collaborate with colleagues from other Russian universities and HSE campuses. About a third of respondents believe that holding their seminars online is advantageous, while half of respondents see both positive and negative sides to the new format. The rest of respondents (about one fifth) strongly consider holding seminars online to be disadvantageous.

The majority (40 out of 51 respondents) at the time of the survey planned to conduct seminars in person in the future while also preserving the option of remote participation.

Ivan Gruzdev
Director, Office of Internal Monitoring

Events this spring put a significant share of our attention on how the educational process was reorganized: for example, did teachers manage to quickly adapt their classes to online formats? Did students manage to stay sufficiently engaged with their coursework? At the same time, it is no less important and interesting to understand if and how research activity changed during this time.

It is clear that research activity involves not only individual work, but also collective discussion, a significant part of which takes place in the format of seminars. We were pleased to learn from the survey that, despite the different situations in different laboratories, on the whole, HSE research teams have maintained the intensity of their research-related communications with colleagues. Moreover, almost half of the respondents noted that after the online transition, the share of invited seminar speakers at HSE from foreign universities increased.

Now the majority are planning to conduct seminars in person in the future but retain the option for participants to join remotely. In fact, the online transition, which was required and affected all divisions, has made it possible for many heads to see new opportunities in the already existing capabilities of video communication.

November 05, 2020