Jean-Francois Jabir is an assistant professor at the HSE University Department of Statistics and Data Analysis and a senior research fellow at the Laboratory of Stochastic Analysis and its Applications. In his interview, he talks about why he is still impressed by the training level and dedication of Russian students, and how to live in Moscow with a limited knowledge of Russian.

The cost of apartments in Vladivostok, the volatility of cryptocurrencies, the consumption of ferrous metals in different countries, the communications of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, the results of state motherhood support measures—these and many other issues were covered in theses by ‘Economic Analysis’ graduates, which they defended in mid-June.

Galina Shirokova, Professor at the Department of Management at HSE University-St Petersburg, has worked alongside international researchers to identify the role of social circles and cultural values in the success of young businesswomen. They found that support within a group increases the chances of women engaging in entrepreneurship.

Armine Abrahamyan studies philosophy at the Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan. She came to St Petersburg under the mobility programme to expand her horizons and live up to her motto of 'never limit yourself'. Armine shared her impressions of the university and explained how studies in Russia and Armenia are different.

This year, HSE University held the Mirror Laboratories project contest for the fourth time. A total of 19 applications were submitted to the contest from 16 HSE University research departments partnered with 16 organisations from 14 Russian regions. Following the contest results, 10 research projects received support.

A positive correlation has been discovered between the brain activity of study participants as they were presented with photographs of dishes from the menu of a restaurant and the sales performance of said dishes. This finding was made by a team of researchers of the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, MSU, and ETH Zurich (Switzerland).

For the second time, HSE University in Perm has held SaWalk—a quest walk dedicated to the 300th anniversary of Perm and the city’s history and culture. More than 170 participants from 37 teams took part in this large-scale event.

On June 30, HSE University Rector Nikita Anisimov and Russian Football National League President Nail Izmaylov signed a cooperation and partnership memorandum aimed at developing and popularising Russian football.

At the end of June, HSE University hosted Reklamathon, an inter-university hackathon in which participants develop a prototype product for forecasting the effectiveness of advertising campaigns on social media. The event was organised by HSE University’s Data-Driven Communication master’s programme.