German-language ‘Welt und Wissenschaft’ Conference Promotes World Science

On April 25, HSE University hosted the eighth Welt und Wissenschaft international research and practical conference. The German-language event included sections on ‘Law Theory and Practice’, ‘Literature, Culture, and Translation’, ‘Politics and Public Administration’, ‘Sociology’ and more. The conference also featured expert support from the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce.

Yulia Pasko, Associate Professor of the Department of German Language (HSE University School of Foreign Languages), spoke to the HSE News service about how the conference has evolved over the years and why she considers it a success.

Yulia Pasko, Associate Professor of the Department of German Language

An Academic Dialogue

This year, the conference is being held for the eighth time. Looking back, I realise that we’ve made a significant journey: we started with a small-scale experiment into whether undergraduate and doctoral students were willing to talk about their scientific research in German, and now we have an international conference with a team of moderators from Germany whom we have been working with for quite a long time.’

The main goal of our conference is to encourage an academic dialogue between students, future researchers, and established scientists

These experts can draw from their extensive experience to offer valuable recommendations on the works presented and give advice about what to pursue next. And we believe that this dialogue is highly successful. Every year, we get wonderful feedback about the conference, with many people participating for multiple years and publishing articles in the annual collection.

Another success is the practice of combining multiple fields within a single conference in order to give as many participants as possible the opportunity to talk about their research work. That’s why it’s called ‘Welt und Wissenschaft’ (‘the world and science’).

The Conference According to Its Participants

Martin Beisswenger, Assistant Professor at the School of History of the HSE University Faculty of Humanities, moderator of the section ‘Past and Present’

As a historian from Germany who has been living and working in Moscow for more than ten years, I have a particular interest in the history of German-Russian relations. As the moderator of the historical section of the conference, it is always particularly interesting to see which themes from German history the Russian participants research and what kind of results they obtain. The same applies to the German participants and their interest in the Russian and Soviet past.

Once again, I can’t wait to gain new knowledge in the field of German-Russian history!

Ivan Mazhaev, student of the Master’s in Medieval Studies, HSE University Faculty of Humanities

The idea of participating the Welt und Wissenschaft conference has appealed to me for some time, but only now did I decide to do it.

Presenting your research in a foreign language and with foreign colleagues is one of the most important student experiences

I study German humanism of the late Middle Ages. This largely developed thanks to the efforts of German students who spent a long time studying together in Italy and retained a lifelong love of research activities and literature. I think that this conference embodies humanist values: people of different ages, specialisations and nationalities coming together to discuss their research interests in German, one of the main scientific languages. It is very important to maintain these kinds of contacts in today’s world.

Anastasiya Galkina, doctoral student of the HSE University Faulty of World Economy and International Affairs

I have now taken part in the Welt und Wissenschaft international conference twice, and I value the opportunity to exchange experience and different points of view with interesting people who are professionals in their fields. My interests include sustainable development, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, energy and nuclear energy, and user experience design.

The conference is a platform for discussing topical scientific and applied fields of research under several sections

It isn’t easy to choose which section to take part in—the first time, I participated in the ‘Economics and Society’ section, while this time I chose ‘Politics and Public Administration’. The presentations and discussions provide an opportunity to look at the results of research work from a new perspective and to identify promising areas for further research.