HSE Congratulates PhD Recipients in 13 Disciplines

Of the original 300 students enrolled in doctoral programmes set to graduate this year, only 126 reached the final stage of the process—the dissertation defence. While congratulating the recent class of graduates, HSE Vice Rector Vyacheslav Bashev noted that such a large attrition rate testifies to the seriousness of those who have made it to graduation. ‘Though many of you work, you continue to invest in yourselves intellectually,’ he said.

A Factory of Ideas

Some graduates have already defended their dissertations, but most will complete the procedure within a year. This is the third cohort of graduates to earn PhDs from HSE University. ‘I hope that your paths, which began with applying to post-graduate school, do not end with today, the day of the conferment of your doctoral degree. I hope that you defend, at the very least, your doctoral dissertations, which will be a testament to your professional skills: your ability to learn, think, formulate, and, most importantly, prove your own hypotheses,’ the Vice Rector said in his address to the graduates.

© Mikhail Dmitriev/ HSE University

 Continue your academic endeavours, make discoveries that you can be proud of and that will benefit our country, and maybe, the whole world

Vyacheslav Bashev noted that this year’s total student enrolment, with the Moscow campus’s undergraduate programmes, graduate programmes and the HSE Lyceum combined, amounts to 15,000 students. ‘If we maintain this pace, in three years we will have enrolments of about 60,000. And this huge factory of ideas—this intellectual factory—is a great place for self-improvement,’ he said.

Global Issues — a Focal Point for Graduates

Anastasia Fedorova
© Mikhail Dmitriev/ HSE University

Two weeks ago, Anastasia Fedorova, a graduate from the Doctoral School of Psychology, successfully defended her dissertation. Her research examines the connection between creativity and conflict behaviour. Anastasia had been working with her academic advisor, Professor Milana Hachaturova, for nine years since her undergraduate studies.

‘I was interested in the phenomenon of creativity (a topic about which Anastasia has written a number of research articles – one of which she discussed with IQ.HSE – ed.), and Professor Hachaturova studies conflict, so we combined the two topics. When I am finished with my postgraduate studies, I plan to work in my own company—we are developing neural networks to predict people’s behaviour based on open sources, such as social media and the internet. Using big data, psychologists can learn a lot about a person’s personality, values, motivations, and needs. I started working on these kinds of projects about six years ago, and a couple years ago I founded my own company,’ says Anastasia. She also has plans to work in Europe as a postdoc.

Irina Shcheglova
© Mikhail Dmitriev/ HSE University

Irina Shcheglova, a graduate of the Doctoral School of Education  and a Junior Research Fellow at the Student Experience Research Laboratory (SERU Lab), on the other hand, recently completed a research internship abroad. She travelled to University of California, Berkeley, where she completed an education assessment course. She was happy to return to HSE, now her alma mater. ‘I actually really like it at HSE University,’ says the graduate. ‘I feel at home here, and I think I have more opportunities for development here.’

Irina’s dissertation examines the relationship between student involvement in extracurricular activities and the development of critical thinking skills. When attending a debate club or volunteering, for example, students interact with each other and become involved in social tasks. ‘When involved in extracurricular activities, students have a role to play; they need to analyse and synthesise information, interact with others, and make decisions. In this capacity, they practice skills that they have gained at university but haven’t been able to put into practice yet. Extracurricular activities thereby become a piece of real life where students can develop themselves,’ says Irina.

Maxim Borisyak
© Mikhail Dmitriev/ HSE University

Maxim Borisyak, who received his PhD from the Doctoral School of Computer Science and works as a research assistant at the Laboratory of Methods for Big Data Analysis (LAMBDA), is also actively engaged in the global research community. His research, which he conducts in collaboration with colleagues at New York University and the University of California, Irvine, has led to the creation of a mobile phone app that serves as a space observatory data processing system. The app uses regular smart phone cameras, which, as it turns out, are capable of detecting traces of cosmic particles. ‘We are targeting volunteers to install a special application on their mobile phone. It will automatically turn on at night and the only thing the owner has to do is to charge their phone at night with the camera facing down,’ says Maxim. ‘The app is of interest first and foremost to astrophysicists. The key feature of our observatory is that it covers a large area due to the large number of volunteers. We can collect information about very rare phenomena, including cosmic radiation of ultra-high energies, which has been little studied at the moment.’

Maxim Miroshnichenko
© Mikhail Dmitriev/ HSE University

Maxim Miroshnichenko, a graduate of the Doctoral School of Philosophy and recipient of the Alexander Pyatigorsky Foundation fellowship, uses an interdisciplinary approach in his work. His dissertation explores the philosophical problems of cognitive science. ‘It seems to me that we can only engage in philosophy at the intersection of disciplines, with a strong emphasis on integration into contexts outside of philosophy. Philosophy thereby doesn’t seem speculative but rather makes a positive contribution to the development of world science,’ he says. His dissertation, ‘Phenomenology as Experimental Philosophy: Methodological Foundations and Prospects for Interdisciplinary Study’ was a continuation of his master’s thesis under his advisor Georgy Chernavin.