HSE University Announces New Project Competition for Launching International Laboratories
The number of international laboratories run in cooperation with leading international scholars is set to expand at HSE University. The competition aims to support the existing and create new research teams. Applications will be accepted from July 10 to August 31, 2020.
The first international laboratories appeared at HSE in 2010. Their creation was fostered by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 220 ‘On the Measures for Attracting the Leading Academics to the Russian Higher Professional Education Institutions’. Today, 48 laboratories work as part of the university, including 41 at HSE Moscow. There are also two centre of excellence, which are bigger than laboratories, but based on the same principles. Nine laboratories were funded by a mega-grant following the Decree No. 220, while 39 have been funded by HSE University.
According to HSE Vice Rector Maria Yudkevich, international laboratories are the backbone of research at HSE today. Renowned international researchers work here together with Russian scholars; young research teams evolve; and students become involved in actual research. International conferences and seminars organized by the labs promote HSE University’s recognition in the global academic environment. No wonder that the project ‘Creating international research laboratories and their support’ is a priority on the HSE Development Programme up to 2030.
The project competition for launching international laboratories is held for the fifth time and has already become an annual event. Since the rules of the competition stay mainly the same, its participants have an opportunity to prepare their projects in advance and negotiate with potential partners. 20 applications were submitted for the 2019 competition, and four projects were announced winners. One of them was presented by Vladimir Shchur, an early career researcher with a PhD degree, who came back to Russia after studying and working abroad. Having founded the International Laboratory of Statistical and Computational Genomics, he continues his research career in Russia in collaboration with his international colleagues.
The 2020 competition welcomes research teams that are co-supervised by prominent international researchers, who hold leading positions in relevant fields of study, and leading Russian scholars. The competition is open to the teams already working at HSE, as well as those willing to move here permanently. There is no age limit for the participants. Each winning project will receive up to 13 million roubles annually to carry out research during three years from 2021 to 2023. The projects may be extended, pending expert assessment results.
Learn more about the competition here.
Marina Litvintseva, HSE Director for International Research
2020 is an anniversary year for Project Competition for Launching International Laboratories. We are going to organize a series of research events in autumn and talk about the results achieved by the laboratories and centres of excellence. At one of the concluding events, we will announce the results of this year’s competition and present the winning projects. The new laboratories will start working next year. We hope that they will make a considerable contribution not only to HSE University’s development, but to global science as well.
Project proposals can be submitted via email at concurs_labs@hse.ru from July 10 through August 31 in Russian and English. The results will be announced by November 20. The information on the winners will be published on the HSE University website.
See also:
Art and Design School Announces ‘Parajanov—100: Collage / Poster’ Contest
The HSE University Art and Design School and the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University, in collaboration with the Sergei Parajanov Museum and the Artists' Union of Armenia, have announced an open contest dedicated to the centenary of Sergei Parajanov’s birth. The contest starts on March 7.
'We Wanted to Create an Opportunity for Intercampus Teams to Engage in Promising Studies'
HSE University has announced the winners of the Project Competition in Basic Science Research for Intercampus Departments. The competition, which the university is organising for the first time, will provide funding to 10 research teams working on five topics. Four of the winning projects will be implemented by new research departments formed as a result of the competition.
Research Reveals RNA's Role in Cancer Progression
An international group of scientists and medical specialists, including HSE researchers, examined the role played by microRNA (miRNA) and long non-coding RNAs on the progression of ovarian cancer. Having analysed more than a hundred tumour samples, they found that miRNA can prevent cell mutation while long non-coding RNAs have the opposite effect of enabling such mutations. These findings can help design new drugs which act by regulating miRNA concentrations. The study was published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
‘We Managed to Bring Together Specialists in AI, Pure Mathematics, and Neurobiology’
In early September, the HSE University Faculty of Computer Science hosted the international conference Computer Methods of Cognitome Analysis. The event was organised by the International Laboratory of Algebraic Topology and Its Applications at the faculty.
Russian Researchers Propose New Approach to Studying Facial Emotion Recognition
Researchers of the HSE University and the Southern Federal University (SFedU) have tested a new method for studying the perception of facial emotional expressions. They suggest that asking subjects to recognise emotional expressions from dynamic video clips rather than static photographs can improve the accuracy of findings, eg in psychiatric and neurological studies. The paper is published in Applied Sciences.
Academics Started Working Even More During the Pandemic
Academics’ work week became even longer during the pandemic. This is true of researchers from different countries, independently of their gender and specialisation, an international research team with HSE University participation found. Their working time during the pandemic was 51 hours compared to the usual 40. The increased number of working hours per week seems to have become part of the new academic norm. The results of the study were published in the Plos One journal.
HSE Researchers Develop New Method for Analysing Genetic Admixture of Populations
Researchers of the HSE International Laboratory of Statistical and Computational Genomics together with their international colleagues have proposed a new statistical method for analysing population admixture that makes it possible to determine the time and number of migration waves more accurately. The history of Colombians and Mexicans (descendants of Native Americans, Spaniards and Africans) features two episodes of admixture that occurred about 350 and 200 years ago for Mexicans and 400 and 100 years ago for Colombians. The results were published in the Plos Genetics journal.
Scholars from Moscow and Vladivostok Join Efforts to Study Institutes and Preferences in Economic Behaviour
Applications from HSE departments for the ‘Mirror Laboratories’ open project competition are open until May 20. One of the ‘mirror laboratories’ successfully operating today was created as a result of a similar competition in 2020 by economists from HSE University and Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) to study institutes and preferences in economic behaviour. Alexis Belianin, Head of the HSE International Laboratory for Experimental and Behavioural Economics, talked about how peers from Moscow and Vladivostok collaborate.
Stress Disorders More Prevalent among Doctors due to the Pandemic
Psychologists from HSE University have joined their peers from Ekaterinburg to look into the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of Russian doctors. They found that medical staff are suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression more often than before. The results of the study were published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Modern Art on Ice: HSE Business Incubator Launches ArtBotMoscow
Artists and designers from anywhere in the world will be able to display their work on the ice of Chistye Prudy in the centre of Moscow. Those interested should take part in the ArtBotMoscow competition organised by the HSE University Business Incubator. The winning sketch will be printed on the ice by a robot.