Research & Expertise news at HSE University

Researchers at the HSE Institute of Education have used regional data to describe, for the first time in Russia, how inequality in access to education affects different parts of the Russian Federation. The research findings reveal that the key determining factors are the local economy and the proportion of people with a university degree: urbanised regions with well-developed economies and educated inhabitants are more likely to have good-quality schools, with a large proportion of students scoring highly in the Unified State Exam and going on to university. In contrast, poorer regions with low human capital see many of their school students drop out after the 9th grade, limiting their chances of further education.

The HSE Centre of Development Institute has begun publishing the Daily Economic Stress Index (DESI), which tracks economic activity in the financial markets and in the real sector. Current stress index indicators do not paint an optimistic picture – they significantly exceed the background retrospective values ​​since 1997, indicating a high probability of a recession.

HSE researchers, jointly with colleagues from the RAN Institute of Organoelement Compounds and the RAN Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, have studied the properties of a polyarylene ether ketone-based copolymer (co-PAEK) for potential space applications. Co-PAEK films are highly resistant to electrostatic discharges caused by ionizing radiation and can thus be used as protective coating for spacecraft electronics. The study findings have been published in Polymers.

Lev Jacobson, Deputy Head of the April Conference Programme Committee, explains the changes to the conference format.

At the end of February, the HSE IGITI Research Centre for Contemporary Culture hosted a roundtable entitled ‘Field Studies in Russia: A Country Familiar and Foreign’. Roundtable participants talked about field work methods and standards, research challenges, and ways to solve them. The participants also discussed the extent to which it is possible to apply international experiences and approaches to field work in Russia as well as ways to study Russia from within and without.

Additional certification and training courses can not only affect an employee’s pay grade and career, but their sense of control over their life. Employees who have ‘upgraded’ their professional knowledge and skills find it easier to manage problems both in their personal lives and in the workplace. However, the trend does not hold equally for men and women. A study by Natalia Karmaeva and Andrey Zakharov of the HSE Institute of Education shows that men reap more benefits than women.

The book ‘Exploring Universal Basic Income. A Guide to Navigating Concepts, Evidence, and Practices’ was presented at an HSE University event, which was organized by the HSE Institute of Social Policy. During the event, participants noted the foundational nature of the publication prepared by the World Bank experts and held an emotional debate on the prospects of introducing a universal basic income.

Getting an education and a job, leaving the parental home and starting a family are some of the the milestones of growing up. For Russians in their thirties today, these stages do not necessarily follow a pre-set sequence and often overlap. In contrast to their parents, linear and predictable biographies are increasingly rare among Russian millennials, whose lives tend to look more like a patchwork of diverse events than a straight line. Some of these events, especially childbirth, often get postponed until later in life. For young Russians today, having children tends to be the last stage in their own transition to maturity, according to demographer Ekaterina Mitrofanova.