News

From 8 to 12 September 2025, the 7th EUROSOIL Congress took place in Seville, Spain, bringing together more than 1,000 soil scientists from 63 countries under the topic “Advancing Soil Knowledge for a Sustainable Future.” The congress opened with a series of keynote lectures by leading global experts. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Rattan Lal highlighted the pivotal role of soil in the 21st century; Panos Panagos (Joint Research Centre, European Commission) discussed challenges and opportunities for soil science and policy as well as presented the new Soil Monitoring and Resilience Law; Claire Chenu (INRAE) delivered a lecture on soil carbon science for EU policy. Heike Knicker explored the biochemical effects of biochar; Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo spoke about soil biodiversity under global change; Laura B. Reyes Sánchez addressed soil science education; and Peter Schad discussed the future of international soil classification.

As part of the Rediscovering Russia student expedition programme, HSE University organised a research trip under the framework of the School for Young Humanities Scholars to the New Chersonesos museum and church complex in Sevastopol. The results of this expedition will form the basis for proposals on educational projects aimed at shaping young people’s historical memory of the role of Chersonesos, Crimea, and the Byzantine legacy in the history of Russian culture and statehood.

For the first time in Russia, a team of scientists and clinicians has conducted a large-scale genetic study of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. The team, which included researchers from the International Laboratory of Bioinformatics at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, analysed the genomes of over a hundred patients and found that approximately one in ten carried pathogenic mutations in the BMPR2 gene, which is responsible for vascular growth. Three of these mutations were described for the first time. The study has been published in Respiratory Research.

On September 17–20, 2025, the First Caucasus School on Experimental Research and Cognitive Sciences took place at the Gornaya Legenda venue of Adyghe State University (ASU). The event was organised by the ASU Experimental Linguistics Laboratory, the HSE Centre for Language and Brain, and the HSE Centre for Sociocultural and Ethnolinguistic Studies. The school brought together over 50 participants—students, doctoral candidates, and early-career researchers from across Russia, along with lecturers and speakers from France, Serbia, China, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

The first Intervision song contest recently came to an end in Moscow. The winner was the Vietnamese entrant, Đức Phúc. The voting system for the contest was developed by Fuad Aleskerov, a renowned mathematician, expert in game theory and decision-making, and Distinguished Professor at HSE University. He shared the details with the HSE News Service.

An international team of scientists, including researchers from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain, has for the first time studied the connectivity between the brain's sensorimotor and cognitive control networks in children with autism. Using fMRI data, the researchers found that connections within the cognitive control network (responsible for attention and inhibitory control) are weakened, while connections between this network and the sensorimotor network (responsible for movement and sensory processing) are, by contrast, excessively strong. These features manifest as difficulties in social interaction and behavioural regulation in children. The study has been published in Brain Imaging and Behavior.

Having a mortgage increases the likelihood that a Russian family will plan to have a child within the next three years by 39 percentage points. This is the conclusion of a study by Prof. Elena Vakulenko and doctoral student Rufina Evgrafova from the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences. The authors emphasise that this effect is most pronounced among women, people under 36, and those without children. The study findings have been published in Voprosy Ekonomiki.

Researchers at HSE University have developed a new methodological approach to studying motor planning and execution. By using 3D-printed objects and an infrared tracking system, they demonstrated that the brain initiates the planning process even before movement begins. This approach may eventually aid in the assessment and treatment of patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. The paper has been published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) pose challenges not only in medicine, but also in education, social policy, and technology. Scientists, doctors, educators, and government representatives have discussed how science and practice can help people with such disorders at the conference ‘Autism. Challenges and Solutions.’ For the first time, the event has been held at HSE University.

Alexander Sorokin, Dean of the School of Social Sciences at HSE University–St Petersburg, was a key speaker at the Himalaya Calling global summit at UPES University in India.