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During his early years at university, physicist Ivan Makhov worried that he might be dismissed, but today he is heading a study supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation. In this interview with the HSE Young Scientists project, he shares his work experience using a closed-loop cryostat, his dream of conversing with Einstein, and favourite location in his hometown of St Petersburg.

On July 3–4, 2024, the IX BRICS Civil Forum was held in Moscow for the first time since the association was expanded by five new countries in January 2024. Participants emphasised the importance of personal interaction between public figures, civil activists, as well as the work they do to strengthen and enrich friendly relations between BRICS countries, based on mutual respect. The forum was organised by the BRICS Expert Council–Russia, which is established at the HSE University.

Scientists at the AI Research Centre and the AI and Digital Science Institute of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science applied classical reinforcement learning algorithms to train generative flow networks (GFlowNets). This enabled significant performance improvements in GFlowNets, which have been employed for three years in tackling the most complex scientific challenges at modelling, hypothesis generation, and experimental design stages. The results of their work achieved a top 5% ranking among publications at the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics AISTATS, held on May 2-4, 2024, in Valencia, Spain.

A meeting of the BRICS Coordination Committee on Antimonopoly Policy was held in Geneva as part of Russia's BRICS Chairship in 2024. The meeting participants supported a project to launch a BRICS Interstate Platform on Fair Competition, developed by the International BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre of HSE University and presented by the FAS of Russia as an initiative of the Russian Chairship.

Dmitry Ryabtsev, a 2024 graduate of the master's programme at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, created an AI-powered software service for ophthalmology during his two years of study. This product is now entering the market, and its developer plans to participate in establishing a working group on software engineering for medical applications at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, with the goal of promoting more genuinely useful domestic projects. In an interview with HSE News Service, Dr Ryabtsev shared his story of how a professional doctor turned into a programmer.

In late June, the HSE CREATIVE HUB hosted an expert conference titled 'Exhibition Season Trends,' focusing on recent tendencies in contemporary art. Prominent art critics and artists discussed landmark exhibitions, trends for 2023-2024, and their potential impact on the developments in this field in the near future.