Keynote Speakers
Associate Professor, Vice Head of Department, Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen (Norway)
"Ethnography in Social Informatics"
Social informatics is a field of research concerned with understanding both the design and use information and communication technology (ICT) in its social, cultural and institutional contexts. This field presents us with complex and multifaceted objects of inquiry that lead to challenges of how to approach these objects of inquiry methodologically. In this presentation, I will focus on how we can use the perspectives and tools of ethnography to understand the use of ICT in context. These inquiries include understanding the relation between online and offline behaviours, and how to use different indicators of action, such as chat-logs and other digital traces of participation and combining these with observations and accounts of action. These challenges will be illustrated by examples from my own research with special attention to studies of technology-enhanced learning and the design and use of mobile technologies.
Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Business and Politics (Denmark)
"Inequality and the Wealth Management Profession"
Eight individuals now own as much wealth as the bottom 50 percent of the world’s population. How did this happen?
American sociologist Brooke Harrington offers one part of the puzzle by pointing to the experts who make personal tax avoidance possible on a massive scale—an estimated US$200 billion annually. This massive depletion of state coffers undermines efforts to provide public services, such as education, health care and transportation, or to distribute food and housing aid to those in need. So the poor get poorer, while the rich get richer.
Harrington’s expertise on wealth management comes from nearly a decade of studying this elite profession. The first two years were spent on “immersion ethnography:” she joined a wealth management training program to learn the profession from the inside out. Then she spent another six years attending their professional society meetings and conducting interviews with 65 practitioners in 18 countries. This gave her a unique insight into wealth management as a field of expertise, as well as an eye-opening perspective on the people who make extreme wealth accumulation possible.
Brooke Harrington is Associate Professor of Economic Sociology at Copenhagen Business School (CBS); she earned her PhD and MA from Harvard University, as well as a BA from Stanford University. She is the author of several books (including Pop Finance, Princeton University Press, 2008) and numerous articles in leading academic journals. Her book on wealth management, Capital without Borders, was published last September by Harvard University Press.
International Research Adviser, International Center for Health Economics, Management and Policy, HSE University, St. Petersburg (Russia); Professor, The Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds (UK)
"Health Economics - Helping Us Deliver a More Effective and Efficient Healthcare Systems"
Health economics is a new academic discipline. It combines the ideas and concepts of economics with those of its more “respectable” neighbours, for example psychology, mathematics, philosophy, politics. The business of health economists has been described as “shining a light into dark places”. We work with evidence about the costs and consequences of healthcare but sometimes this leads to difficult decisions about whether to provide treatment and if so, should it be for all patients. Every healthcare system faces the same challenge – how to deliver effective care within affordable limits. Can health economics in Russia help deliver that goal ?
Paul Kind began his academic career by chance with his research placement as a Masters student nearly 40 years ago. He is still learning about the most important question that he encountered then, namely, how to measure and value the benefits of healthcare.
Acting Professor of Purchasing and Supply Management in the Operations & Supply Chain Management Programme of Turku School of Economics, the University of Turku (Finland)
"The Analysis of Logistics Development Trends in Global Trends"
International trade may be considered as an important aspect in global economic growth, and in the economic prosperity of individual countries. Conducting international business is, however, dependent on the successful management of distance. Physical and institutional distance may cause friction in international transactions, and so well-functioning trade logistics is important for international companies and global value chains. This presentation gives a macro perspective on logistics development globally, form the point of view of the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index 2016. Trends and issues are identified for the benefit of policy makers and practitioners.
Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Political Science, HSE University, St. Petersburg (Russia)
"Media and Politics in Hybrid Regimes"
What is the role played by the media in hybrid regimes? Do independent media outlets have an impact on voting behaviour and political opinions in political settings where elections take place, but where election outcomes are often determined in advance? We test these questions with two recent empirical studies about the role of the media in the Russian Federation. In a first study, we monitored, coded and analyzed Russian and Ukrainian TV news for a period of 40 days in early 2015, to see to what extent TV channels in both countries play a role in commenting upon and criticizing the activities of the government. We find that while TV channels in Ukraine actively discuss and criticize the activities of the government, criticism of the government is all but absent on Russian state TV. In a second experimental study, we conducted a survey about political opinions and voting intentions before and after the 2016 Duma elections in Russia. After the first survey, a randomly selected sub-group of the people surveyed were provided with free access to the independent TV channel Dozhd. We find that the people that were exposed to our treatment and watched Dozhd were more likely to vote in the elections, but less likely to vote for the government party United Russia than those in the control group.