Academic Research at HSE University-St Petersburg: Opportunities and Experiences

HSE University holds the status of a National Research University, a prestigious title given to a limited number of universities in Russia. As such, it has a strong commitment to training students to conduct academic research starting from the first year of bachelor’s studies. The university rewards academic research and creates an environment where students can participate in research competitions and work in research centres.

HSE University-St Petersburg

HSE University organises various academic events annually. Among them is the HSE Student Research Competition for students from all four campuses—Moscow, St Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Perm—and from other higher educational institutions. The competition rewards students' interest in research, allowing early-career scholars to showcase their works and get feedback from experienced researchers, which helps improve research skills. The competition welcomes papers in a wide variety of research areas ranging from arts and design to business informatics. The call for paper submission is made annually at the beginning of the academic year.

Winners of the competition can receive such rewards as:

• scholarships (first-place winners in each category)
• additional portfolio points for master’s admissions
• membership of the HSE Student Research Club, an elite club for students interested in academic research
• academic travel grants to attend scientific events around the world

Among this year's winners of the Research Competition is Jinhai Wang, a first-year student of the master’s programme ‘Global and Regional History’. He shared his experiences of the competition, his motivations, and his future ambitions.

Jinhai Wang, 1st-year student of the Master’s programme ‘Global and Regional History’

I’ve been firmly committed to pursuing academic research as my career. I previously earned a Bachelor’s in Economics and a Master’s in Finance in China. That’s exactly why I decided to join this competition—I’m hoping it will serve as my launching point in accounting disclosure, corporate finance, and political economy circles here in Russia.

I finished both of my competition papers in 2024 and then refined them substantially afterwards. Though the two studies differ greatly in focus, both tackle fascinating questions.

The first paper helped me win in the ‘World Economy’ category. It explores corporate nationalism. I implemented machine learning and text analysis to build a firm-level nationalistic rhetoric index, studying how such rhetoric shapes corporate disclosures and ultimately affects stock-price information efficiency.

The second one became a laureate in the ‘Finance’ category. This piece investigates how the transition from environmental fees to environmental taxes in China influences corporate rent-seeking behaviour. When environmental regulations tighten and costs rise, do firms ramp up rent-seeking to cut corners or do they reduce it to avoid even bigger risks? It’s a captivating question that sheds light on the broader economic ramifications of environmental tax reforms.

My research interests are quite broad. I’m currently working on several other studies related to corporate climate change and nationalism, and I’ve already submitted multiple papers to SSCI journals. I believe these themes could be just as intriguing within a Russian context, and I hope participating in this competition will help me connect with local scholars.

Academic research is essential for students who want to study and understand the world using the necessary scientific tools. HSE University students have many opportunities at their disposal to improve their academic skills. HSE University-St Petersburg's 17 research centres and laboratories involve students in their projects, enabling them to work hand in hand with experts in the field.

Akabueze Daniel Onyekachukwu, 3rd-year student of the Bachelor’s programme ‘Political Science and World Politics’

In the first semester of my sophomore bachelor’s year, I told one of my lecturers, Yury Kabanov, that I was looking for a laboratory where I could work as a research assistant. He told me about an available opportunity, which I applied for and was accepted. So I worked at the Laboratory for Reputation Management in Education under the supervision of Prof. Magdalene Gaete to study universities in Europe and their sustainability approach.

After my first meeting with the professor and another senior research assistant, I was assigned to study the history, mission, and educational policies of three universities: the University of Manchester in the UK, the University of Navarra in Spain, and HSE University. It was overwhelming at first because I hadn’t had such a broad task before, while also attending classes and working. Every Wednesday, I had to report my progress and the data I collected to the senior research assistant, which was our office hour. I wasn’t mandated to come to the office for the reporting, so in most cases, it was done online. Working as a research assistant helped me tremendously. In the second semester, I participated in another project where I researched the political participation of Afghan women. The data-gathering experience that I gained as a research assistant became very useful.

Students can also participate in lots of research projects that are conducted every semester and announced on the project website. It is also a beneficial experience to work with other students and professors. I have participated in two research projects: one on international relations, where we discussed ontological security and feminism in international relations, and the other on the impact of cinema in the Islamic world, with a focus on Iran, Turkey, and Egypt. While the framework of each research project differs, for international relations, we were assigned an individual research question to work on. As for the impact of cinema in the Islamic world, we worked in a team of three, presenting and discussing our findings every two weeks.

Academic research is one of the core pursuits of HSE University. Students have immense opportunities either through participating in research projects, working at HSE laboratories as research assistants, or participating in the HSE Research Competition.

Text by Akabueze Daniel Onyekachukwu, 3rd-year student of the Bachelor’s programme ‘Political Science and World Politics’