‘In My Life, There is Before and After HSE University–St Petersburg’

HSE University–St Petersburg is proud of its graduates. Our alumni pursue careers in a wide variety of fields—from academia and public policy to creative industries and international development. Each story is unique, filled with ambition, perseverance, and meaningful change. Today, we are excited to share the story of Giovanny Simon Machado—a graduate of the Master’s programme 'Applied and Interdisciplinary History "Usable Pasts"'. Now, he is a professor at the Department of Social Work at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil. This May, Prof. Machado came back to Russia as a participant of the HSE University–St Petersburg International Partners’ Week 2025. Read on to learn more about his experience of studying and living in Russia and how it has changed his life.

HSE University–St Petersburg

— Could you tell us about your academic and personal background?

 — I majored in social work. In Brazil, social work is a very old profession, which has been around for almost 90 years. It's a sort of liberal profession, like lawyers or engineers. After my bachelor’s, I got a master's degree in social work as well.

I studied at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, which is in the south of Brazil. Then, I got accepted for a PhD programme at the same university. While getting my PhD, I took an interest in studying the Russian social protection system during Soviet times. Thus, I decide that I had to visit Russia to study it. That's when I started looking for ways to travel to Russia.

I relied on research grants or scholarships that my government could provide. But back in 2017, we had some major budget cuts in the Brazilian educational system, so I couldn't get any grants from the government. Then a friend of mine sent me a link to a history programme on the HSE University–St Petersburg website. Back then, it was called 'Applied and Interdisciplinary History "Usable Pasts"' (now, the programme has developed into ‘Global and Regional History’). The programme was interdisciplinary, so I decided to apply. I got a partial scholarship, so I would have to pay only half of my tuition.

I graduated from HSE University in 2020. Then I stayed a little longer in Russia, went back to Brazil, and finished my PhD in social work.

— You’ve mentioned that you wanted to study Russia and explore it from inside. But why did you take an interest in studying Russia in the first place?

 — I had this question in mind because something that we study a lot and discuss in my field are social and welfare policies. In the literature available in Brazil, they always mentioned the welfare state in Britain and France, and other Western European countries. It was a byproduct of both internal pressures during the postwar time, and an external pressure from the existence of the Soviet Union, which had one of these main features — these social rights. For example, an eight-hour work day, maternity leave, rights for housing and education. They had all these. But the literature doesn't explore this in depth.

That’s why I decided: I should look into that and fill this gap in the literature. We should go and see different experiences from this Western welfare state, because maybe there's something interesting to learn from them. So, I applied for my PhD with this research project to look into the Soviet welfare system.

— Was HSE the only university you applied to in Russia or were there any others?

— Back then, I didn't know much about how to study in Russia. So, I applied only to HSE University–St Petersburg. It was like a leap of faith, I guess. I didn't really have high hopes. The admission process was, of course, a bit bureaucratic, but comfortable in the sense that all the questions I had were very quickly answered. This helped me to manage to get all the documents. I kept communicating with the international office, and the employees were very active in responding to my queries.

— Did you face any challenges during the admission process and how did you cope?

— I guess the first challenge was to gather all the documents. They had to be ready to bring to Russia with me. That made me a little worried and a little scared, because if I had something wrong, I wouldn't be able to go back to Brazil, get the right documents, and return to Russia. So I was anxious about that. Back then, one of the most challenging documents to find was a notary translation of my educational records and diploma, because it was not so easy to find notary translations in Russian in Brazil. Now there are more Russians here, but back then, it was not so easy to find.

— There is a very interesting story behind the financial aspect of your studies at HSE University–St Petersburg. Could you share it?

— I come from a low income family. When I got accepted to HSE University–St Petersburg with a 50% scholarship, I was very happy. But at the same time, I almost gave up because I would have to pay for my living expenses, traveling, and tuition fees. That wouldn't be possible for me.

But I have some friends who were very enthusiastic about me going to Russia, maybe even more than I was. They kept saying: ‘Oh, you should go. You shouldn't miss this opportunity. It's a great chance for you. We can make this crowd funding campaign and raise funds for you. We’ll make it possible. It's not so hard.’ And then we started doing it. Many of them really helped a lot. We raised enough money for the tuition fee, my traveling and living expenses.

Brazil has a different system. Usually, our master’s and PhD programmes are offered only in public universities, and they are free of charge. In the best-case scenario, you can even get some sort of stipend from universities. So you can live without working and dedicate yourself solely to your research.

It was a very difficult process to raise this money. But eventually, I managed to get even more than I really needed. It was wonderful! This campaign was truly successful. It was very nice that so many people got involved. I posted a lot on social media about my weekly goals for how much money to raise, campaign updates, some places in St Petersburg. This helped me to raise social media engagement. A lot of people donated, it was a very good experience.

— How did your family react to you going to Russia?

— They had mixed feelings, I would say. My grandparents have always been very scared of me leaving the country. They thought going to Russia might have been dangerous. It took them a while to understand that it might have been more dangerous for me to stay in Brazil than to go to Russia. They were worried that I didn't have any support network in Russia—no family, no friends. I was just a foreigner.

My mom and my aunts have always been very proud of me, because I was the first family member to have an international degree and live abroad. I always was the first one to do many things: get a higher degree, a master's degree, a PhD, and also this. I actually inspired my brother and my cousins to follow similar steps in other fields.

There was a lot of support and mixed feelings. My family was a little worried, but also enthusiastic and proud of me.

— When you came here and started your studies, what differences did you notice in the academic environment and academic approach at HSE University and the one you have in Brazil?

— Of course, there are a lot of differences. I'm not sure if it's just a cultural difference or something specific for universities. But I had this feeling that in Brazil, professors and students are not so distant from each other. In Russia, there is a bit more of hierarchy. In Brazil, I always chatted, made jokes and went out for drinks with my professors. But in Russia, I think that's not very common. By the end of my master's, I ended up doing it. But it took me much longer.

The dynamics of a master's degree are also different. In Russia, there was a lot of workload not directly connected to our research projects. We had to do some internship projects and many courses. In Brazil, you do from three to six courses in two semesters. Then, you just have all the rest of the time to dedicate to your research.

The infrastructure also differs. In Brazil, the universities are a little more open, even in a physical way. Our campus is just one huge site with all the departments, courses and different buildings. The campus is almost like a big park. You can go there for jogging. If you want, you can just sit on the grass or go grab a coffee and read a book somewhere. I guess in Russia that's not so easy to do, especially in St Petersburg, which is already heavily built. The buildings are not so close to each other, so you need to consider the commute time. Also, in Brazil, the universities are open to the public. Anyone can go inside, visit the library. Of course, there are some rules you need to follow. But in Russia, such institutions are more closed, I would say, for safety purposes.

 — Did you notice any other differences? What surprised you in Russia?

— Oh, many things! I guess there is this first impression of Russians you get: Russians are rude or reserved. They do not smile that much, it’s true. But something I learned is that if you are not a complete stranger, Russians can be really loyal friends. That's an excellent feature of the Russian people.

There are some other cultural differences related to the weather. When I buy something, for example, order a pizza and there is a soda to come with my order, it will be at room temperature. That's almost offensive to Brazilians. We always want to have our beverages really cold, for obvious reasons. I always needed to put some ice in it.

— Was it hard for you in terms of the language here in Russia?

— It's still hard. It's one of my biggest frustrations. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to gain a good command of the Russian language. It's very difficult because my mother tongue and Russian are from very different language families.

There are some sounds that to me don't mean anything. People sometimes are scared to learn Russian because of the alphabet. But the alphabet, for me, is something you can learn really fast. The problem is understanding the meaning of the words. The whole grammar rules can be hard too; they are quite different from Portuguese. I wish that I had more time to study Russian when I was at HSE University.

My programme was English-taught, which was good, because it allowed me to study easily. This is the reason why I even applied in the first place. But I wish I had more time to study Russian when I was there. All my colleagues always spoke English, even the Russian ones. I had only one semester of classes in Russian.

— How did your time at HSE University–St Petersburg influence your career path?

— My time in Russia is closely connected to HSE University for obvious reasons. I came here to study. I would say that in my life, there is before and after HSE University–St Petersburg and Russia.

It changed my career path completely. As a researcher, I got much more open-minded. Before, I was different. My field has a very specific mindset because it's a normative profession. While studying history and different approaches alongside colleagues from various parts of the world and working with outstanding professors, I became much more open-minded. It allowed me to look for different professional opportunities and further development of my studies.

I would like to be a bridge between Russian and Brazilian researchers. Here in Brazil, I don't have many colleagues who can speak English. It becomes a challenge when I'm thinking about joint projects. I’m trying to develop this internationalisation at the Federal University of Pernambuco where I work now. But it is not a simple task.

HSE University-St Petersburg had a profound influence on my professional development—I can say that for sure. If I could go back in time, I would do it all again.

— What advice would you give to those students from Latin America who would like to study abroad and in Russia in particular?

 — Just go for it. It sounds scary to live in a foreign country, which is very far away from our reality. But truth to be told, there're a lot of ways to be safe, make friends, and truly enjoy it. St Petersburg is a very cosmopolitan city. You can find people from everywhere. I remember meeting many people from Colombia and Mexico. It can be a certain safe port if you need to correlate with your culture at some point. Coming here, you get the advantage of very different and rich cultural experiences with Russians and other people you can find in Russia.

So, don't be scared, just go for it. It's going to be a little difficult at the beginning. But you can adapt. I think Latin Americans are very resilient, they can adapt quickly.