Research & Expertise News at HSE University

At the XXVI April International Academic Conference named after Evgeny Yasin at HSE University, one of the distinguished speakers was Prof. Liguo Li of the School of Education at Tsinghua University. He spoke about changes in the structure of higher education in China in line with national strategic priorities, including a proposed 1.7–2-fold increase in the number of leading research universities.

How can states maintain governability and stability in a world where established rules are rapidly losing their force? Prof. Ali Farazmand of Florida Atlantic University answered this question in a presentation delivered at the XXVI April International Academic Conference named after Evgeny Yasin. The scholar proposed examining the transformation of the global order through the lens of two ‘mega-shifts’—from the rise of global corporate capitalism to the emerging multipolarity of today—and demonstrated why this transition between eras requires fundamentally new approaches to governance.

Interdisciplinary research is a defining feature of modern science, and this trend is especially pronounced in the field of quantum technologies. Physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology form the core fields of research at the Centre for Quantum Metamaterials of the HSE Tikhonov Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM). Prof. Alexei Vagov, director of the centre, discusses its key activities, which focus on exploring the prospects of creating materials with predefined properties through manipulating their structure at the quantum level.

Experts from the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge have examined industrial PhD programmes across 19 countries worldwide. The analysis shows that the key components of an effective model include co-funding by universities, industry, and government; dual academic supervision; and flexible intellectual property arrangements. The findings have been published in Foresight and STI Governance.

Why simulate an auction? How do experiments in economics differ from those in psychology? Assistant Professor Alexander Usvitskiy, Head of the Laboratory for Experimental Economics and Finance, discusses the laboratory's activities and research approaches.

Scientists at HSE University have identified a molecular mechanism underlying aggressive breast cancer. They found that the signals supporting tumour growth originate not from the tumour itself but from its microenvironment. The researchers also demonstrated that reduced levels of the IGFBP6 protein in the tumour microenvironment lead to the accumulation of macrophages—immune cells associated with a higher risk of cancer recurrence. These findings already make it possible to assess patient risk more accurately and may, in the future, enable the development of drugs that target cells of the tumour microenvironment. The study has been published in Current Drug Therapy.

Modern supercomputers can perform more than a trillion calculations per second. This immense capacity enables researchers to address problems that were previously intractable. At the XXVI April International Academic Conference, Ilias Kotsireas, a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, spoke about the potential of high-performance computing in fields such as weather and climate modelling, astrophysics, and medicine. 

Researchers at HSE MIEM, in collaboration with colleagues from the Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics (MTUCI), have implemented a novel approach to designing microwave filters—generative synthesis using machine learning tools. The proposed method reduces the filter development cycle from several days to just a few minutes and in the future could be applied to the design of other microwave electronic devices. The results were presented at the IEEE International Conference '2026 Systems of Signals Generating and Processing in the Field of on Board Communications.'