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Phil Baty, Chief Knowledge Officer of Times Higher Education, and Yaroslav Kuzminov, HSE University Rector, delivered opening remarks.

On June 10^th, the Cultural Centre hosted the open final of the HSE Startup Cup competition held by the HSE Business Incubator. First place in the ‘Idea’ category went to a project by 13-year-old Daniil Khachaturov to adapt educational web resources for blind and visually impaired people. The student and his mentor, Gulshat Suhanova, lecturer at the Institute of Education of HSE University, spoke with the News Service about his participation in the incubator and his start-up idea.

According to experts of the Digital Environment Law Institute of HSE University, Artificial Intelligence (AI) may soon become a participant of the legal decision-making process, and the AI system will be entrusted with authority. Therefore, the issue of liability for ‘automated decision making’ should be addressed. HSE experts presented a special report that evaluates whether AI designers should be liable for the automated systems they create and what actions the government can take to develop AI investment projects.

Peio Zuazo-Garin, ICEF Assistant Professor and a PhD graduate from the University of the Basque Country, joined HSE University at a time when all the usual formats of research and teaching were disrupted by the pandemic. In an interview he told how to adapt to a new place of work online, what are the pros and cons of academic prestige, why he loves Moscow and why he recalls bullfighting during the discussions with ICEF students.

Professor Alexey Tameev of HSE MIEM, along with a team of colleagues, has proposed a calculation method to determine the optimal photoactive layer thickness which can maximize the power conversion efficiency of solar cells. Applicable for both polymer andperovskite solar cells, the method can become a milestone on the path from laboratory samples to solar cells made from new generation materials. The results of the research are covered in ‘A common optical approach to thickness optimization in polymer and perovskite solar cells’, an article published in Scientific Reports.

From June 22-23, the virtual Times Higher Education Young Universities Summit, jointly organized with HSE University, will take place. This marks the first time that the summit will be conducted with support from a Russian university. The choice of HSE is no coincidence: it is the only Russian university in the Top 50 of THE Young University Ranking.

Professor Konstantin Arutyunov of the HSE Tikhonov Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM HSE), together with Chinese researchers, has developed a graphene-based mechanical resonator, in which coherent emission of sound energy quanta, or phonons, has been induced. Such devices, called phonon lasers, have wide potential for application in information processing, as well as classical and quantum sensing of materials. The study is published in the journal Optics express.

On Friday, June 11, UNESCO held a ceremony to launch its new UNESCO Science Report, which arrives at a crucial moment as countries reach the halfway mark of meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The Report shows that, over the past five years, countries of all income levels have begun efforts to transition to economies that are both digital and green. At the ceremony, six of the Report’s authors provided overviews of trends in their regions. Representing the East European region was Professor Leonid Gokhberg, First Vice Rector of the HSE University and Director of the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK).