News

Researchers from HSE University have analysed why people feel happier when they help others. It turns out that joy is caused by different reasons, depending on who we help — relatives or strangers. In both cases, happiness brings moral satisfaction from doing a good deed, but helping loved ones is also associated with satisfying the need for belonging and acceptance, while helping strangers provides a sense of autonomy. The results of the research were published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

On August 22, the deputies of the Perm City Duma elected the new head of the city: Eduard Sosnin, HSE graduate and Minister for Economic Development and Investment of the Perm Region.

Arnab Roy Chowdhury, Assistant Professor at the HSE School of Sociology, Moscow, has worked at HSE since 2017. In 2022, he was named one of the university’s best teachers by student vote. He has published several papers in internationally recognised journals and supervised a number of doctoral students. Below, Dr Chowdhury talks about his research career, the changes in the global academic environment, and the larger role of international scholarly cooperation.

HSE University experts have found that 75.3% of male students play competitive online games at least several times a month. Among women, this hobby is much less common: only 20.2% of female students are interested in online games. The HSE News Service covers the results of an expert and analytical report, released by HSE specialists, on the development of student esports in Russian universities.

On August 21, HSE University’s Cultural Centre hosted the opening of the first ‘Pint-Sized’ student film festival. Over the next week, guests will be able to attend lectures from teachers of the HSE Film Institute and watch works by the festival participants. On August 27, at the closing ceremony, the winners of the Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Directing, and Best Cinematography categories will be announced.

In today’s labour market, it is difficult to remain in only one field. An increasing number of HSE University graduates find themselves at the juncture between industries, adapting their knowledge for technical fields. For example, Timur Zekokh—who holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the HSE University’s FES—found himself in the IT field and works as a senior data analyst at Avito. He told Success Builder how love for econometrics inspires his teaching, which knowledge is important for working with data and why Avito switched from Excel to Vertica.

New methods of brain mapping will make it easier to identify the cortex areas responsible for speech functions and to perform operations on the brain, as well as reduce the likelihood of damage to important areas. In addition, this will allow for more frequent use of non-invasive methods for restoring speech and other functions lost due to injuries and illnesses.

The summer break is an opportunity for hard-working HSE University students to relax, recuperate, explore the city and travel. Two such students, Daniel Suarez from Colombia and Oluwafunto Abimbola from Nigeria, share their experiences of the positives (and pitfalls) of summer in the city and life at HSE dormitories.