HSE University-St Petersburg Strengthens Ties with Universities in Latin America at IPW-2026
HSE University keeps expanding the partnership with Latin America: at IPW-2026, experts from leading South American universities delivered lectures for HSE University-St Petersburg students on environmental projects, social politics and international relations, and discussed prospects of cooperation with Russia.
Since 2023, HSE University-St Petersburg has been developing cooperation with Latin American universities: implementing joint research and educational projects and carrying out regular academic missions to the region. Such interaction opens news opportunities for research and international mobility for students and professors. The parties discussed future projects at the HSE University St Petersburg International Partners’ Week. The expert sessions, discussions and lectures gathered twelve representatives from six universities in Latin America.
Davis Sansolo, professor of the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the São Paulo State University (UNESP, Brazil), talked about the problem of political and economic dependence of Latin American countries on the global capitalism. He emphasised that modern education was a basis for protecting the rights in the public health, ecology and socio-economic environment. According to the professor, partnership with HSE University-St Petersburg helps the university to move towards something different from the model of transnational corporations in South America, and the investments in education will help future generations to understand better the society structure.
'Today, there were interesting lectures by professors from the São Paulo State University, one of the leading educational institutions in the region', shared Georgiy Melnikov, 3rd-year student of the Bachelor's programme 'Political Science and World Politics'. 'At HSE University-St Petersburg, my second foreign language is Portuguese. So I am planning to devote my thesis to the issues of the Brazilian public health system. Of course, I understand that in our countries, social sciences are different but such events help to reach the academic pluralism. I believe that one of my missions at HSE University is to spread knowledge and research about Brazil. I hope that somewhere in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, there is a similar young researcher who wants his country to learn a little more about Russia'.
Juan Antonio Carmona García, professor of the National Polytechnic Institute (Mexico), shared the prospects of the development of Russian-Latin American relations. He highlighted the importance of joint environmental projects, interaction with non-profit organisations and cooperation in the sphere of food safety.
'If we're talking about the prospects of the two countries' development, we can implement projects in the sphere of sustainable development (17 UN goals). The bilateral cooperation prioritises the economic growth, energy security and gradual transition from decarbonisation. For instance, for the countries' of our region, the Russian fertilizers are very important. Just as the oil and gas industry. This is my second time participating at IPW, and I am pleasantly surprised by the students' knowledge: they read in Spanish, know much about economics and political processes. They are our future, it is a new generation of political scientists', underscored the expert.
'You don't meet a professor from Mexico everyday. Everything passed in one breath. I was curious about the relations of our countries. We talked about the cases of Mexico and Brazil. In the future, I'd like to choose the Latin American track in the programme—Spanish is among top-5 languages in the world', commented Vsevolod Gladkiy, 1st-year student of the Bachelor's programme 'Political Science and World Politics'.
His groupmates, future political scientists Sofia Petrova and Daniil Beresenev shared their impressions: 'The Latin American speaker genuinely inspired us—both by his charisma and knowledge depth. Though political scientists are now careful with their forecasts, his lecture proved that our countries have a huge potential for joint work in education and trade. And it became clear: Latin America is not just an interesting region but a real direction for student exchange and development of partnership'.
At the session 'Nation Branding in a Multipolar World: Non-Western Approaches to Public Diplomacy', Juan Antonio Carmona García shared the details of his dissertation: 'My work covers the mechanism of cultural, environmental and youth diplomacy in Russia, how international legitimacy is strengthened through transnational networks, social cooperation and building alternative narratives of global management'.
During the roundtable 'Co-Creating Living Labs Across Universities by Designing Joint Educational Models', Victor Krakovich, academic supervisor of 'International Programme in Business and Economics', presented the Latin American track—a new format of cooperation between HSE University-St Petersburg and universities in the region.
'Universities all around the world turn into living laboratories—a cooperative environment, where students and professors from different universities meet to develop joint solutions to main global challenges. At HSE University-St Petersburg, we are implementing a new concept of the Latin American track which is to be launched in 2027. Students get to know the peculiarities of economics, politics and media industry of the region. For the most successful students, we are planning to organise internships with the countries in Latin America', summed up Victor Krakovich.
