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Is a political scientist a true scientist and should political scientists be categorised as either theoreticians or practitioners? Why is Charles Darwin’s ‘The Origin of Species’ a ‘must read’ and is there any point in communicating with someone who has stopped learning? Can a modern university fence itself off from the world around it, and what does critical thinking have to do with it? These are some of the subjects we touch on in our conversation with Alexei Chesnakov, School of Politics and Governance professor with the Faculty of Social Sciences.

On January 22, Thomas Graham, former Special Assistant to the President of the United States on Russian and Eurasian affairs (2004-2007), spoke to faculty and students of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs about the fundamentally competitive nature of US-Russia relations and prospects for cooperation between the two countries.

Why does greater trust in society increase GDP? How can you measure inequality? Before whom is the government to blame? Who earns more? Learn the answers to these questions in this summary of last year's IQ.HSE articles and research by HSE University scholars.

Researchers from HSE University, Skoltech and the University of Toronto analyzed data from 190 fMRI studies and found out that food, sex and money implicate similar brain regions whereas different types of reward favor the left and right hemispheres differently. The paper is to be published in Brain Imaging and Behavior. 

More than 500 large families in three Russian federal districts were surveyed to explore reasons why couples choose to have many children. Five main patterns were identified, driven by values (partner trust and religious beliefs), socioeconomic circumstances (income and education), and availability of support from extended family and friends.

Neurolinguists from HSE University have confirmed experimentally that for people with aphasia, it is easier to retrieve verbs describing situations with several participants (such as ‘someone is doing something’), although such verbs give rise to more grammar difficulties. The results of the study have been published in Aphasiology.

This prize is annually awarded to doctoral students, researchers and professionals from Moscow-based institutions, as well as people with Candidate or Doctor of Sciences degrees. Researchers from HSE University won competition for the third year in a row and will be recognized at ceremony slated to take place on February 7 at the Kremlin Palace.

Only a few Russian companies regularly introduce innovation in products and services. The reason why many others fail to do so may have something to do with how they treat their employees’ innovative ideas, according to HSE sociologists.

In 2017, 30% of Russian families with children under three and almost 20% of families with children under 18 were living below the poverty line. Incidentally, financial hardships experienced during childhood do not leave one unaffected. A study by an HSE psychologist shows that poverty experienced in childhood reduces self-esteem and self-assurance even in adults who later achieve financial success.

Michele Minardi, from Italy, holds a PhD in Archaeology from Sydney University and has spent a number of years in investigating Karakalpakstan in Uzbekistan. He has recently joined the team of Centre of Classical and Oriental Archaeology of the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies as a Research Fellow. We spoke with Michele about his projects, teaching methods and expedition plans.