Research & Expertise News at HSE University

In the 1970s–80s, the Soviet Union made an unexpected discovery: in a society built on collectivist ideals, loneliness had become a significant social problem. In his study, Mikhail Kulagin, a postgraduate researcher at the HSE Faculty of Humanities, shows that the state not only acknowledged this paradox but also attempted to solve it through special ‘social technologies’ —including dating clubs, newspaper personal advertisements, and even early computer matchmaking systems. The study was published in the social research journal Laboratorium.

Scientists at HSE University have found that current AI models, including ChatGPT and Claude, tend to overestimate the rationality of their human opponents—whether first-year undergraduate students or experienced scientists—in strategic thinking games, such as the Keynesian beauty contest. While these models attempt to predict human behaviour, they often end up playing 'too smart' and losing because they assume a higher level of logic in people than is actually present. The study has been published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

Gabriella Leelee Enchill is a third-year student at the HSE University Doctoral School of Sociology. She has a bachelor’s in Integrated Community Development from the University for Development Studies in her native Ghana and a master’s in Population and Development from HSE University. Her current research focuses on gender inequality in rural Ghanaian communities. Gabriella spoke to the HSE News Service about what her studies have uncovered about inequality in the region, how women can gain agency by banding together, and why studying these communities helps empower women around the world.

New interactive editions of Russian classics—Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol and Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky—have been released in the Live Pages mobile app. They were prepared by students and graduates of the School of Philological Studies at the HSE Faculty of Humanities. The project, which has been developing for more than ten years in collaboration with experts from the School of Linguistics, offers readers not just text but digital books enriched with maps, timelines, and commentary for deeper immersion in the works.

An international team including researchers from HSE MIEM has developed a catalyst that enables fast and low-cost hydrogen production from water. To achieve this, the scientists synthesised nanoparticles of a complex oxide containing six metals and anchored them onto various substrates. The catalyst supported on reduced graphene layers proved to be nearly three times more efficient than the same oxide without a substrate. This development could significantly reduce the cost of hydrogen production and accelerate the transition to green energy. The study has been published in ACS Applied Energy Materials. The work was carried out under a grant from the Russian Science Foundation.

HSE University has hosted the final defences of student projects submitted to the Scientific Initiative Competition organised by the Centre for Student Academic Development. Over the course of the year, participants worked on research projects spanning all stages of the research process, from defining a scientific problem to analysing results, and public defence marked the final stage of the competition.

Yadviga Sinyavskaya studies communication technologies, particularly social media. In this interview for the HSE Young Scientists project, she discusses testing the social brain theory on real-world data, the merits of Gogol’s Dead Souls, and ways to prevent burnout.

Founded 15 years ago at HSE University, the Laboratory of Algebraic Geometry and Its Applications studies fundamental mathematics and helps to shape a unified language of mathematical science. The laboratory has become a well-known and respected research centre; recognition of its achievements includes presentations by its staff at international mathematical congresses and publications in leading global mathematical journals. The HSE News Service spoke with the head of the laboratory, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences Dmitry Kaledin, about its work.