Alexander Semyonov

"History HSE" is a peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal managed by the School of History at the Faculty of Humanities at the HSE. Alexander Semyonov, director of the Center for Historical Research, is member of the editorial board of the journal.

On September 30, Stephen Riegg, Assistant Professor of History of the Texas A&M University, presented his book Russia’s Entangled Embrace: The Tsarist Empire and the Armenians, 1801-1914 at the first seminar of this year’s Boundaries of History series.We spoke with Professor Alexander Semyonov, the seminar chair and the Director of the HSE Centre for Historical Research, about the goals of the seminar and to Stephen Riegg about his research.

The new issue of "Ab Imperio" features the publication prepared by Mariia Gulakova and Alexander Semyonov within the Era.net Rus Plus project "Post-imperial diversities". This documentary publication pertains to the discussion of the State Duma elections from special provinces and regions for the period from June to December 1905.

On September 16-17, 2021, the international conference "Languages of Describing the Social in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times" was held on the basis of the History Department of the NRU HSE of St. Petersburg and with the assistance of the Research and Training Group "Languages of Describing the Other in Early Modern Europe: Social Contexts and Interpretation Repertoires". The conference was attended by scientists from around the world and students of Russian universities during 5 sections held in full-time, online and hybrid formats, 29 reports were made, where the speakers raised the topics of describing various social phenomena in different countries in the Early Modern period.

EuropeDebate provides a platform for a dialogue among historians about European history’s contributions to understanding the past and the present. Now Alexander Semyonov's article "Provincializing Europe, De-centering Europe, Hybridizing Europe" is available on the platform.

Articles have been prepared as part of the "Post-Imperial Diversity" project which is being implemented in 2018-2020 as part of a fundamental research competition conducted by the RFBR in the Era.net RUS Plus Research Program in a research consortium with the Karelian Institute of the University of Eastern Finland and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity of the University of Goettingen, Germany

On September 5, the first seminar in this academic year, “The Shifting Identities of Russian Repatriates from China Before and After the Collapse of the Soviet Union,” was held as part of the “Boundaries of History” program. Laurie Manchester from Arizona State University, USA, spoke to students and professors.

Online newspaper «Expert Online» has published the interview with Alexander Semyonov, Director of the Centre for Historical Research and Head of the Depatment of History.

The Center for Historical Research co-organized with the Journal Ab Imperio and Tyumen State University a summer school “Russian Empire/Soviet Union through the Lens of Global and New Imperial Histories”

On June 3-4, 2019 at Helsinki was held a conference "Versailles and Rights: A Centenary Appraisal" organized in frames of the research project "Post-imperial diversities: Majority-minority relations in the transition from empires to nation-states" together with the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.

On February 12-13, Heidelberg hosted the conference “Parliaments and Political Transformations in Europe and Asia: Diversity and Representation in the 20th and 21st Century”, supported by the EuParl.Net network. (part of which is the Center for Historical Research in St. Petersburg). The workshop, which is part of the project “Entangled Parliamentarisms: Constitutional Practices in Russia, Ukraine, China and Mongolia, 1905 - 2005,” was devoted to the exploring the role of parliaments in Eastern Europe and East Asia. 

The topic of the presentations was the current state of research in imperial Russia, as well as political relevance and knowledge both in Russia and abroad.

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and HSE University – St Petersburg launch the Paulsen Programme, funded by the Dr Frederik Paulsen Foundation, in order to support historians in Russia who have been working on the period from the mid 17th century to 1918.

HSE University in St. Petersburg and University of Turin have signed an agreement for a new Double Degree PhD programme in History.

On June 14, 2018 Department of History and the Center for Historical Research at the HSE in St Petersburg had a session of the “Boundaries of History” research seminar where Louise McReynolds, professor from the University of North Carolina presented a talk "Excavating Empire: Russian Archeologists and the ‘Imperial Imaginary’, 1804-1918". The talk was devoted to the ongoing project that looks at the evolution of archeology, emergent in the 19th century as a new kind of discipline for studying human cultures. This project includes a vital digital component that was also presented to the audience

From May 27 - June 2, 2018, HSE in St. Petersburg hosted International Research Summer School "History of Empires in a Global Age, 1870 - 1920". The School was co-organized by the Free University of Berlin and Humboldt University, Berlin.

Routledge, the world's leading academic publisher in the Humanities and Social Sciences, launches a new series on Imperial Hisrory: Imperial Transformations – Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet History. Series' editors are the Head of the Working group of the International Research Project "Comparative Historical Studies of Empire and Nationalism" Professor Alexander Semyonov, and the Head of the Project Professor Ronald G.Suny.

On Monday, March 19, Jane Burbank, Professor of History and Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University, delivered a lecture entitled ‘Eurasian Sovereignty: The Case of Kazan’ at the Department of History and the Centre for Historical Research at HSE St. Petersburg.

In this issue of The HSE Look, we would like to focus on three of the many seminar series which are held at HSE, and we are glad to present the interview with Alexander Semyonov about the seminar Boundaries of History at HSE St. Petersburg.

From January 5 to 20 2018, HSE in St. Petersburg for the second time hosted a special J-Term programme for American students from Smith and Amherst Colleges, as well as the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Weekly TV-show Fantástico made a report about the centerary of October Revolution. The report was based on an interview with the director of the Center for Historial Research Alexander Semyonov.

On October 11, Professor Dominic Lieven delivered a public lecture at the HSE St Petersburg. Lecture was titled “Reflections on empire, Russia and historical comparison” and was organized by the Center for Historical Research.

On Thursday, September 28, the regular research seminar "Boundaries of History" was held. Frank Grüner presented his paper titled "Entangled Histories: The Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 in Harbin and the CER Zone"

On September 27, renowned human rights activist and South Africa Constitutional Court Justice (1994 – 2009) Albie Sachs delivered a public lecture titled “Forging a Constitution for the New South Africa: from Racism to Equal Rights for All” at the HSE St Petersburg. The lecture was organized by the Center for Historical Research and the School of Law, HSE St Petersburg, in collaboration with the Fund for Support of Liberal Education and the Center for Study of Civil Society and Human Rights.

The Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (CREES) is pleased to announce that on May 26, 2017, the Regents of the University of Michigan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on its behalf with the National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg (HSE). The purpose of the MOU is to promote cooperation in history, sociology, political science, anthropology, and other social sciences and humanities units involved in academic research between CREES and the HSE Center for Historical Research.

Alexander Semyonov took part in the faculty exchange as part of the partnership between the department of history  HSE St Petersburg at the department of history and ethnology of the University of Jyvaskyla that has been supported for the second year by the grant from the Center for International Education (Finland).

The Higher School of Economics Centre for Historical Research in St. Petersburg, Russia invites applications for postdoctoral research positions in the field of history (application deadline 15 March 2017)

Each year HSE hires post-doctoral researchers, accepting applications from all over the world, and they join various laboratories and centres. This year two Fellows joined the Center for Historical Research

Professor and Сhair of the History Department Alexander Semyonov has taken up the position of a visiting fellow at the University of Regensburg (Germany). 

On June 16-18, the international conference on anthropology ‘Bordering Religion in (Post) Cold War Worlds’ was held at HSE St. Petersburg. The event was organized by Angie Heo from the University of Chicago Divinity School (USA) and Zhanna Kormina, HSE Professor.

On June 2, 2016, Professor Valerie Kivelson (University of Michigan) made a presentation titled "Early Mapping: The Tsardom in Manuscript" at the regular research seminar «Boundaries of History» of the Center for Historical Research and the Department of History of Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg.

The regular seminar “Boundaries of History” took place on May 26, 2016, where the presentation called “Civil War: A History in Ideas” was made by professor David Armitage. He is the Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at Harvard University, where he teaches international history and intellectual history. David Armitage is also an Affiliated Professor in the Harvard Government Department and at Harvard Law School and is an Honorary Professor of History at the University of Sydney.

On May 12, 2016, Professor Dominic Lieven (Senior Research Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge, and Fellow of the British Academy) made a presentation titled "Empire in World War I: Causes and Consequences" at the regular research seminar Boundaries of History of the Centre for Historical Research and the Department of History of the Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg.

On April 19, 2016, in the HSE within the framework of the 13th German Week in St. Petersburg the international seminar "Federalism and Regionalism in Russia and Germany" took place.

On April 19^th, 2016, a seminar on ‘Federalism and Regionalism in Russia and Germany’ took place at HSE in St. Petersburg as part of the 13^th German Week in St. Petersburg. The seminar was organized by the Department of History and the Department of Political Science at HSE in St. Petersburg together with the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in St. Petersburg and the Forum of Federations.

Dr. Baar, M.K. (Lecturer at Leiden University) made a presentation titled "Rethinking Disability: Historical Perspectives on Vulnerable Citizens at Times of Crisis" at the regular research seminar Boundaries of History of the Centre for Historical Research and the Department of History of the Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg.

The International Student Research Forum in early February at HSE in St. Petersburg brought together over 300 participants from eight countries.

In December 2015, leading international academic Ronald Suny chaired a seminar at HSE St Petersburg on Imperial Transformations – Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet History, which was part of the international research project Comparative Historical Studies of Empire and Nationalism.

On 14^th of December, 2015, Raye Farr,  documentary filmmaker, director of Steven Spielberg Film & Video Archive US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the former director of the permanent exhibition of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, USA, presented her report, which was called "Creating Public History for Millions: World War II and the Holocaust ". This seminar was organized by Department of History of HSE and US Consulate General.

Professor Peter Strohschneider, President of the German Research Foundation (DFG) awarded a grant to Director of HSE – St. Petersburg Professor Sergey Kadochnikov during his recent visit to HSE. The grant is intended for expanding the library of the Department of History.

On August 3rd-8^th 2015, a working group from the International Research Project ‘Comparative Historical Studies of Empire and Nationalism’ took part in the ICCEES Congress in Japan.

On August 3rd-8 th  2015, a working group from the International Research Project ‘Comparative Historical Studies of Empire and Nationalism’ took part in the ICCEES Congress in Japan.

A group of 14 undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Department of History at HSE St. Petersburg took part in a joint research and educational seminar with Humboldt University in Berlin and Bielefeld. The seminar, which was devoted to the culture of historical memory of World War II and Political Regimes of the 20th century, was led by Alexander Semyonov, Head of the Department of History, Dietmar Wulff, Associate Professor at the Department and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Kerstin Bischl of the Humboldt University Chair for the History of Eastern Europe. The trip was made possible thanks to a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service.

Research Seminar for the Students of the Department of History, HSE in St. Petersburg and the Humboldt University in Berlin and Bielefeld

In late June an official delegation from HSE St. Petersburg comprising Sergey Kadochnikov, Alexander Semyonov, Tatyana Alexeeva, Elena Rogova and Christopher Gerry visited Turin university, where they signed an agreement on cooperation.

Zelenogorsk hosted an international conference on the history of diverse societies, as well as on the history of nationalism. The conference, which was called ‘Ruptures and Continuities in Histories of Empire: Federalism, Regionalism, and Autonomies as Alternative Political Imaginaries of Post-Imperial Political Order’, was organized by the Department of History at HSE - St. Petersburg and drew leading experts in the field of ‘new imperial history’.

On Thursday 4th June the Richard Stites Memorial Library opened at HSE St Petersburg. Courtney Nemroff, USA Acting Consul General to St Petersburg was there for the grand opening ceremony.

December 19-21, 2014 the international research project "Comparative Historical Studies of Empire and Nationalism" under directorship of Ronald Suny held a three-day seminar «Imagining Post-Imperial Order: New Historical Study of the Imperial Crisis» in Repino.