Research & Expertise news at HSE University

For the first time, psycholinguists from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain, in collaboration with colleagues from the USA and Germany, recorded eye movements during a test to assess narrative skills in young children and adults. The researchers found that story comprehension depends on plot structure, and that children aged five to six tend to struggle with questions about protagonists' internal states. The study findings have been published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Since March 2025, the HSE Faculty of Mathematics has welcomed a leading Russian mathematician, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh, National Professor of China, and recipient of the Lyapunov Prize—Sergey Kuksin. In an interview with the HSE News Service, he spoke about the role of the individual in mathematics, KAM theory, and why analysis is so relevant today.

In dynamic games, a Markov equilibrium involves strategies that guide players' behaviour based on the current state of the game, rather than its entire history. This approach is effective when players have access to complete information. But when uncertainty arises in the game—for instance, when players are unsure of who they are dealing with—this approach can become problematic. Eric Maskin, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Professor at Harvard University, addressed this issue in a paper presented at the XXV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development held at HSE University from April 15 to 18, 2025.

On March 26, the 14th Research Seminar on Economic Studies, titled ‘Bank Lending: Trends, Risks, and New Opportunities,’ was held at HSE ICEF. The seminar gathered participants from Russian banks and professors from leading universities in Russia, the US, China, and the Netherlands. Key topics included the development of the banking sector, environmental factors in lending, the impact of managerial competencies on loan quality, prudential regulation and financial stability, and credit risks and strategies.

The future is now more difficult for researchers to forecast, and events that are hard to predict are playing an increasingly significant role. But there is good news too: scientists are confident that humanity will adapt to any changes. This was the focus of discussion at the International Symposium ‘Foresight in a Rapidly Changing World,’ which took place as part of the 25th Yasin (April) International Academic Conference.

Every day, modern technologies change the world by automating business processes in various industries. Specialists from HSE University have presented the extensive experience of the iFora team in implementing AI projects for the benefit of large companies and governments.

Sergey Dubinin, former head of the Bank of Russia and Professor of Finance and Credit at the Faculty of Economics at Moscow State University, has delivered an honorary address at the XXV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference. He spoke about the transformation of the global monetary and financial system, as well as the Russian economy.

Alan Herbert, Scientific Supervisor of the HSE International Laboratory of Bioinformatics, has put forward a new explanation for one of biology's enduring mysteries—the origin of the genetic code. According to his publication in Biology Letters, the contemporary genetic code may have originated from self-organising molecular complexes known as ‘tinkers.’ The author presents this novel hypothesis based on an analysis of secondary DNA structures using the AlphaFold 3 neural network.