In 2024, Russia chairs BRICS. Throughout the year, dozens of BRICS sessions took place across various Russian cities. As an interpreter, Ksenia Prosyukova, Associate Professor at the HSE School of Foreign Languages, participated in several BRICS events. In an interview, she discussed the personal responsibility of working at high-level events, the challenges and prospects of her profession, and how HSE University trains in-demand translators.

In early November, the final of the MTS True Tech Champ—which brought together more than 12,500 schoolchildren, students, and young programmers—took place. Alexander Babin, student of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, was named the winner of the ‘Algorithmic Programming’ track.

A team of scientists at HSE University, in collaboration with the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, studied how people respond to deception when under stress and cognitive load. The study revealed that smoking habits interfere with performance on cognitive tasks involving memory and attention and impairs a person’s ability to detect deception. The study findings have been published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

Md Naoshad Jaman Chowdhury, from Bangladesh, graduated from the Master’s Programme in Management and Analytics for Business of HSE University in St Petersburg. Now he works as an HR Analyst at Brain Station 23 PLC, a software company in Bangladesh. Naoshad Jaman talked to the HSE News Service about the skills he acquired during his studies at HSE, the challenges he faced while learning Russian, and his plans to become an academic—complete with a big cup of coffee and professor jokes.

HSE University invites submissions of proposals with academic reports for participation in the 25th Yasin (April) International Academic Conference (YIAC). The conference programme will retain its interdisciplinary focus and welcome participation from leading scientists in Russia and around the globe. The key events of the 25th Yasin Conference will be taking place in Moscow from April 15 to 18, 2025.

Researchers at HSE University have proposed a novel approach to assessing AI's competency in educational settings. The approach is grounded in psychometric principles and has been empirically tested using the GPT-4 model. This marks the first step in evaluating the true readiness of generative models to serve as assistants for teachers or students. The results have been published in arXiv.

An approach to measuring human well-being has been developed at HSE University, opening up new opportunities for international collaboration. At a forum in Kazan titled ‘SPROUTS: Russia and China–Mutually Beneficial Cooperation,’ HSE University representatives emphasised the importance of integrating the efforts of the two countries.

A coworking space has been created in HSE Dormitory 8 ‘Trilistnik.’ Students now have access to a unique and comfortable place for exam preparation, networking, and collaborative activities. This is the first branded coworking space in a student dormitory, named Alfa Space.

On November 11, 2024, the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences hosted a celebration for Economist Day. Many of the university's partners came to congratulate HSE on the occasion. The atrium on Pokrovsky Bulvar hosted booths from VkusVill, Ozon, HeadHunter, Wildberries, and other leading companies. Students and professors participated in quizzes, spun the wheel of fortune, painted, and crafted.