Five Representatives of HSE University Win Möbius Contest
The Möbius Contest, established in 1997, aims to identify the best student research works in mathematics and provide financial support to their authors for continuing their scientific work in Russia. It offers students the opportunity to receive feedback on their initial research results from leading mathematicians. The contest is open to full-time students and postgraduates from any Russian university, as well as full-time postgraduate students from research institutes.
Out of the eleven winners of the contest, five represent HSE University.
In the ‘Students and Postgraduates’ category, the first prize was awarded to Denis Lyskov, a second-year master's student of the HSE Faculty of Mathematics and Research Assistant at the Laboratory of Algebraic Geometry and Its Applications. Third-prize winners include Sergey Guminov and Alexander Zaitsev, both research assistants at the same laboratory, with Zaitsev also being a postgraduate student.
In the ‘Students’ category, the first prize was awarded to Petr Kucheriaviy, Research Assistant at the International Laboratory of Mirror Symmetry and Automorphic Forms. The second prize went to Nikolay Kononenko, a fourth-year undergraduate student at the Faculty of Mathematics.
As Alexandra Skripchenko, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, noted, the Möbius Contest is a highly significant and prestigious competition that allows students interested in fundamental mathematics to receive feedback on their early research results from distinguished mathematicians.
Alexandra Skripchenko
‘Students and postgraduates from our faculty are finalists in this competition almost every year. The year 2024 has been particularly successful, with several young colleagues winning in their categories. Many past winners and finalists have already joined the ranks of faculty members and researchers at the faculty and affiliated laboratories. We sincerely hope this year’s laureates will follow their example. Congratulations to the winners and their academic advisors,’ said Alexandra Skripchenko.
Dmitry Kaledin
Notably, four out of the five laureates are members of laboratories involved in the HSE University Centres of Excellence Support Project. According to Dmitry Kaledin, Head of the Laboratory of Algebraic Geometry and Its Applications, three interns from this laboratory achieved exceptional success in the contest. ‘This is a remarkable achievement that we can be justly proud of. The award-winning works were completed as part of the laboratory's technical assignment, and the results are included in our annual scientific report,’ he emphasised.
Marina Litvintseva, HSE Director for Advanced Research
The Centres of Excellence Support Project (formerly known as the International Laboratories Project) has been implemented at the university since 2010. It aims to immerse young researchers—students and postgraduates—in an academic environment, offering them a unique opportunity to participate in significant projects under the guidance of experienced mentors, thereby laying a strong foundation for their research culture.
It is heartening to see interns from the Laboratory of Algebraic Geometry and Its Applications—our first Centre of Excellence established through the inaugural mega-grant competition in 2010—and from the International Laboratory of Mirror Symmetry and Automorphic Forms, created in 2017 through the second mega-grant competition, among the winners of this prestigious mathematics contest.
The results of the Möbius Contest once again highlight the outstanding outcomes of our systematic work with young researchers as part of our scientific project at the Faculty of Mathematics. Congratulations to the winners!