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15 Years of Supporting Researchers
© HSE UNIVERSITY
The largest event of the year organised by the HSE Academic Writing Centre has taken place—the 2nd International Conference ‘Celebrate Writing with Us.’ Dedicated to the centre’s 15th anniversary, the event brought together more than 300 participants from 19 countries, including specialists in academic writing, editors, and directors of writing centres from universities across Russia and around the world.
‘We conceived the conference as a celebration, a firework display of ideas, an intellectual delight, and a showcase of the creativity of teachers of writing in English,’ noted Svetlana Suchkova, Director of the Academic Writing Centre. ‘And it seems the celebration truly succeeded!’
The conference featured five tracks: four on-site and one online. Participants attended four plenary lectures delivered by leading international experts in writing for publication and scientometrics. Altogether, the conference included more than 70 presentations and workshops.
Conference participants:
shared research on the teaching of academic writing at different stages of education—from preparation for school examinations to writing courses for postgraduate students and researchers
presented a variety of educational products, including curricula, teaching materials, and textbooks
discussed the impact of AI on the teaching of writing and on the publication process, and shared strategies for using AI both in teaching and for publication purposes
Particular interest was sparked by a presentation on the multimodality of presenting research findings, the emergence of new hybrid genres such as video abstracts and graphical abstracts, and the ways in which the academic writing landscape is changing.
In addition to presentations and workshops, the programme featured a wide range of engaging events.
The panel discussion ‘Will AI Make Writing Centres Die?’ brought together directors of writing centres from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Russia. The panellists discussed how writing centres are changing their development strategies and practices, and why the administrations of some universities have stopped supporting centres focused primarily on translation services. However, the unanimous view was that AI cannot replace a human consultant.
Conference participants were also able to receive consultations from the centre’s experts on selecting an appropriate academic journal, attend individual sessions with detailed feedback on publication drafts, and find potential co-authors for future research projects and joint publications.
The celebratory atmosphere was complemented by a range of English-language writing contests. The centre honoured the winners in the following categories:
Best Haiku—Alla Sibrina
Best Acrostic—Anastassia Detkova
Best Limerick—Anastasia Okunkova
Best Cinquain—Tatiana Martseva
Most Absurd AI Slop—Larisa Maximova
Genre Flip—Yulia Ryabukhina, Elena Shchur
Six-Word Thesis Statement—Liliya Yusupova
Special Jury Prize—Yuri Smirnov
Grand Prix—Anastasia Lushina
The winners received gifts from the Academic Writing Centre as well as from conference partners—Arzamas Radio, Synchronizatsya, Gogol School, and Eurolibra.
Participants from other universities also had an opportunity to get to know HSE University more closely. At the end of the first conference day, guests joined guided tours of Durasov House and the HSE Library on Pokrovsky Bulvar.
The HSE Theatre also contributed to the grand conclusion to the first day of the conference. Its actors performed an excerpt from the play From the Red Rat to the Green Star by Alexei Slapovsky, a story about how a distorted translation almost prevented love from flourishing. ‘Learn languages!’ was the key message. The students demonstrated an excellent command of English.
The second day of the conference began with a plenary lecture devoted to the importance of preserving oneself as an individual and to techniques for managing one’s emotional state. This is especially important in stressful circumstances, when people must balance work, research, publications, and everyday life.
Another plenary lecture, devoted to the impact of AI on publishing activity, provoked particularly lively discussion. It concluded with the words: ‘AI reads, AI writes, AI edits. Who, then, is the weak link?’ Participants debated the future with AI.
A conference is always an event, a meeting of like-minded people, and a stimulus for further development. This idea was reflected in participants’ feedback.
‘Thank you so much for organising such a wonderful conference. Thank you for the warmth with which you welcomed guests and speakers, and for the uniquely intellectual yet heartfelt atmosphere you created over these two days. As always, we returned home feeling emotionally uplifted, inspired, and full of new insights,’ said Liliya Yusupova and Tatiana Tatarina from Petrozavodsk State University.
‘Such an amazing conference is like a breath of fresh air,’ noted Valeria Evdash, Director of the Academic Writing Centre at Tyumen State University.
‘Thank you for such an excellently organised conference. It felt as though we had returned to the good old days, when it was easy to communicate with colleagues from anywhere in the world,’ said Galina Igonina from the Department of Foreign Languages for Technical Faculties at Novosibirsk State Technical University.
‘A brilliant conference! I have not experienced such enjoyment or such a surge of energy and ideas in a long time,’ shared Natalia Smirnova, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Foreign Languages at HSE University–St Petersburg.
‘Your centre is a model to follow,’ emphasised Inga Zashikhina, Associate Professor at Lomonosov Northern (Arctic) Federal University.
