Research & Expertise news at HSE University

The annual awards ceremony of the Student Research Paper Competition (NIRS) was held on February 8, Russian Science Day. This year, 165 people received awards, including not only HSE students but also contestants from Saint Petersburg State University, Moscow State University, Far Eastern Federal University, Mount Holyoke College (USA), and other universities. Another 160 participants became laureates of the competition, with 1,924 papers submitted in total.

Scientists at HSE University have learned that disagreeing with the opinion of other people leaves a ‘trace’ in brain activity, which allows the brain to later adjust its opinion in favour of the majority-held point of view. The article was published in Scientific Reports.

Alarmist forecasts have not come true: the Russian IT industry did not suffer as many losses due to the pandemic as had been expected. But the pandemic increased the need for digital products and made some old problems more acute. What should be done to accelerate the industry’s development? Participants of a seminar at HSE University attempted to answer this question.

At the recent seminar of the HSE International Laboratory for Social Integration Research, Isaac Olumayowa Oni, HSE doctoral student and lab research assistant, spoke about African migration to Russia. In an interview with HSE News Service, Isaac discussed his research and talked about what it’s like to study at HSE and live in Moscow.

Researchers from the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience have proposed a new method to process magnetoencephalography (MEG) data, which helps find cortical activation areas with higher precision. The method can be used in both basic research and clinical practice to diagnose a wide range of neurological disorders and to prepare patients for brain surgery. The paper describing the algorithm was published in the journal NeuroImage.

The HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge has released the results of its survey on digital practices in 2020, which illustrate the changes in how people have mastered new formats to solve routine tasks.The HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge has released the results of its survey on digital practices in 2020, which illustrate the changes in how people have mastered new formats to solve routine tasks.

Today, neuroscience and robotics are developing hand in hand. Mikhail Lebedev, Academic Supervisor at HSE University’s Centre for Bioelectric Interfaces, spoke about how studying the brain inspires the development of robots.

Biologists and mathematicians from HSE University, Skoltech and the RAS Kharkevich Institute have studied the spread of COVID-19 in Russia. The main part of the study was completed in late June, but until October, the team was working with data following the reviewers’ recommendations. The paper was published on January 28, 2021 in the journal Nature Communications. MIEM students spoke about their contribution to the research.