News

On October 22, 2025, HSE University hosted an open meeting with representatives of the Chinese news agency Xinhua, led by Sun Zhiping, Chief of Staff to the Director General. Participants discussed current challenges in journalism and the operational specifics of news agencies in today’s media landscape. Many students took the opportunity to ask questions and practise speaking Mandarin. The visit was organised by the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs in collaboration with the HSE Institute of Media and the TASS news agency.

An international team of researchers, including chemists from HSE University and the A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INEOS RAS), has developed a new method for synthesising aniline derivatives—compounds widely used in the production of medicines, dyes, and electronic materials. Instead of relying on toxic and expensive reagents, they proposed using tetrahydrofuran, which can be derived from renewable raw materials. The reaction was carried out in the presence of readily available cobalt salts and syngas. This approach reduces hazardous waste and simplifies the production process, making it more environmentally friendly. The study has been published in ChemSusChem.

New mobility programmes, academic exchanges, and unexpected collaborations—these are the results of the HSE University–St Petersburg delegation's mission to Latin America. Read on to find out about the key agreements made.

From October 21 to 24, 2025, the 23rd Conference on International Exchange of Professionals took place in Shanghai and Beijing, bringing together more than 7,000 scientists and experts from around the world. HSE University was represented by Ivan Arzhantsev, Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science, and Vasily Gromov, Head of the Laboratory for Semantic Analysis of the Centre for Language and Semantic Technologies.

Participants of the 4th Fall into ML conference at HSE University held a discussion titled ‘Academia in Crisis: What Does the Future Hold?’ In particular, they examined why the number of scientific publications continues to grow, what the quality of these papers is, what expectations should be placed on researchers, and what role artificial intelligence plays in preparing academic articles.

Master’s students of the HSE ISSEK programme ‘Science, Technology and Innovation Management and Policy’ have released a joint research collection with the University of Campinas (Brazil) and Tsinghua University (China) titled ‘Being Innovative or Being on the Safe Side—Managing the Risk of Failure.’ The authors explore how organisations perceive risks and embrace innovation within different cultural contexts.

HSE Graduate School of Business hosted a seminar titled “Business Education Today: Challenges, Trends, Solutions,” organized jointly with the Russian Association of Business Education (RABE).

Why we make irrational decisions, how the brain responds to fakes, and whether neural networks are capable of thinking—these were the topics discussed by early-career scientists of HSE University during the NAUKA 0+ science festival. The event brought together students and experts from various fields, united by a common goal—to deepen their understanding of the human brain and cognitive technologies.

An international team, including scientists from HSE University, has proposed a new mathematical method to analyse the structure of graphene. The scientists demonstrated that the characteristics of a graphene lattice can be represented using a three-step random walk model of a particle. This approach allows the lattice to be described more quickly and without cumbersome calculations. The study has been published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical.

In September 2025, the HSE Faculty of Urban and Regional Development (FURD) hosted a delegation of leading scholars and urban development experts from China. Two seminars were held at the Shukhov Lab with the participation of Chinese colleagues: the first focused on green infrastructure, while the second explored the theme of dynamic urbanism. In addition, a meeting between the Chinese delegation and representatives of FURD took place at the university’s main building on Pokrovsky Bulvar. The participants discussed opportunities for expanding cooperation between universities and research centres.