Research & Expertise

Elena Kochetkova, researcher at the Department of History and the Centre for Historical Research, took part in a ‘Transplanting Modernity’ workshop, which took place from June 22-24, 2015, at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Julia Lajus, an Associate Professor at the History Department and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Historical Research of the Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg, became a participant from Near Neighbour Countries in the project of the European network COST - Action IS1403 “Oceans Past Platform (OPP)”.

Ivan Sablin, Research Fellow at the Centre for Historical Research (HSE in Saint Petersburg) presented reports dedicated to cultural and political history of North Eurasia in Munich and Regensburg.

On April 30, the Laboratory for Comparative Social Research sponsored a seminar in St. Petersburg by Associate Researcher Francesco Sarracino on ‘Do people care for a sustainable future? Evidence from happiness data’. Sarracino is an economist at Luxembourg’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (STATEC) and specializes in social capital, economic growth and well-being; he recently spoke at length with the HSE news service about his research interests, implications of measuring happiness and wellbeing for policymakers, and his experience collaborating with the Higher School of Economics.

On March 16-20 Mikhail Antonov, Associate Professor at the Department of Theory and History of Law and State and Sergei Akopov, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science delivered a series of lectures in English and French on legal and political system of the Russian Federation during the conference orgaznised by HSE partner university Science Po Aix-en-Provence.

From April 17 to 19, 2015, Irina Shemeleva, Head of the Department of Foreign Languages, took part in a conference called ‘EAP in a rapidly changing landscape: issues, challenges and solutions’ in Leicester.

Attitudes towards family and sexual norms vary widely across the former Soviet Union republics. At the country level, economic development and the level of religiosity both help to determine attitudes, while age plays an important role at the individual level. Middle-aged people tend to be more liberal than those who are older or younger, according to a study conducted by Sofia Lopatina, Veronica Kostenko, and Eduard Ponarin of the HSE's Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR) in St. Petersburg.

Most research into social change limits itself to social factors causing change. However, other factors, such as natural disasters, climate and geographical peculiarities of the particular place, or infectious diseases also have a significant impact on societal evolution.

On November 10−15, the IV International Conference ‘Cultural and Economic Changes in a Comparative Perspective’ took place in St. Petersburg. Organized by HSE’s Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, the conference has traditionally brought together Russian and foreign scholars working on issues of values, trust, social capital, corruption and inequality in a changing world, as well as the role of religion in political activity and other social issues in Russia and other countries.

On the 6th of November a round table ‘The Fall of the Berlin Wall: Past, Present, Future’, took place to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. Professor Alexander Semenov, Director of the History department at HSE St Petersburg and assistant at the Laboratory for Historical Research, Yana Kitaeva presented a paper on ‘The Question of German Reunification in Teymuraz Stepanov-Mamaladze’s Diaries’.