Research & Expertise news at HSE University

Professor Heinrich Haerke, a renowned archaeology expert, has been cooperating with HSE University researchers for a long time. This year he has joined HSE as a Professor at the recently formed Centre for Classical and Oriental Archaeology. He has talked to HSE News Service about his research interests, field projects, and teaching archaeology.

Russia has just had a great contraceptive revolution, and it is not over: unwanted pregnancies are more often prevented than terminated. Russians now engage in family planning with more confidence: the number of births is almost equal to the number of pregnancies. On the basis of studies completed by HSE demographers, IQ.HSE examines the Soviet and Russian culture of birth control.

The turnstiles and entrance gates used in municipal transport not only ensure that passengers pay, but also structure their behavior according to age, body size, ability and speed. Many people must maneuver themselves to pass easily through the rotating arms or swinging gates of an Automated Passage Control System (APCS): passengers cannot be too large or too small and must not walk too quickly or too slowly. Sociologists studied how turnstiles impose uniformity on passengers’ physicality and behaviour.

The parties agreed to cooperate on issues related to the improvement of legislation and law enforcement practices in an area that is the subject of research activity at HSE University.

Big Book, one of Russia’s most prestigious literary prizes, has been awarded in Moscow, and the biographical book Venedikt Yerofeev: a Stranger has taken the first prize. The book was co-authored by Oleg Lekmanov* (Professor in the HSE Faculty of Humanities), Mikhail Sverdlov (Associate Professor in the HSE School of Literary History and Theory) and Ilya Simanovsky.

Alexandre Dumas reveals some causes of economic crises, Ernest Hemingway explores financial decision-making, and Fyodor Dostoevsky offers his reader a glimpse into the minds of stock market players. IQ.HSE continues to read fiction from an economists' perspective: HSE Assistant Professor Henry Penikas takes a fresh look at some literary classics.

Although HIV infection rates are high among the transgender community in Russia, many transgender people know very little about the virus, as well as their own health status. In Russia’s first study to examine transgender people as an at-risk social group for HIV transmission, demographers attribute these high infection rates to the community’s social stigmatization and isolation, as well as a lack of access to medical services. The study’s findings have been published in the HSE journal, Demographic Review.

What do we remember about Soviet theatre, what can historical documents tell us about it, and how do Soviet narratives impact life in contemporary theatres and beyond? At the Theatre and Time Conference, hosted by HSE University, participants discussed these questions and more.