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Regular version of the site

First-time April Conference Participants Share First Impressions

On the second day of the XV HSE April International Aca­demic Conference on Economic and Social Development several conference participants and guests told us about their research and shared their impressions of the event in short interviews for the HSE News Service.

On the second day of the XV HSE April International Aca­demic Conference on Economic and Social Development several conference participants and guests told us about their research and shared their impressions of the event in short interviews for the HSE News Service.

Annamaria Nifo, Assistant Professor of Applied Economics at the Department of Social, Juridical and Economic Systems – SEFIS, University of Sannio, Italy

'I will be presenting a paper at the session ‘Determinants of firm-level productivity’ about the relationship between institutional quality and firm productivity. In particular, my colleagues and I analyze how strongly the weight of institutional quality influences the business environment and firm productivity.

This is my first time at the April Conference and in Moscow. I came on Monday, and spent the entire day yesterday preparing for my presentation. I can already tell that this conference is very well organized, and I think that it’s very admirable that you have made such a strong effort in organizing this huge event.

I was invited by one of my colleagues who serves on the Committee Board of this conference, Leonid Polishchuk, Head of the HSE Laboratory for Applied Analysis of Institutions and Social Capital. We don’t have any institutional cooperation yet, but I hope that in the future we’ll be able to establish strong research ties between the University of Sannio and the HSE. I hope to return here at the end of this summer to set out a research project with my colleagues. Perhaps they will also come to Italy at the invitation of my university.'


Hadar Jabotinsky, Post-Doc Researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

I came here to present a paper called ‘Consolidation or Fragmentation for Financial Regulators? A Story of Information Flow’ at Session ‘Institutions, Regulation and Growth’. In this paper I talk about how structure influences information flow. I will also attend sessions related to financial regulation and institutional design.

This is my first time in Russia and at the April Conference. Before coming to Moscow, I spent five days in St. Petersburg – a beautiful city. It’s incredible, I love Russia! Your food is so amazing! Russian culture is interesting, and I really like being here. Today is my first day at the conference, and so far, I am really enjoying it, especially the lectures that I heard. I hope to meet more interesting people here and maybe foster some future academic cooperation with those who do research in my field.


Francisco Fernandez Galego, Business and Technology Assistant at CDTI

'I’m from Spain and working here in the Spanish embassy. We try to help Spanish and Russian companies cooperate in research and development. I’ve been living here since September; I’m trying to learn Russian, but it’s really quite hard. Moscow is a really nice city, but I need to know Russian to speak with people in the streets, because otherwise it’s really hard to be understood. It’s also colder than in my country, but that’s okay if you put on a coat!

As we are a Spanish innovation agency, it’s really interesting for us to know what the future of science and technology in this country is.

I am planning to attend all the sessions that relate to innovation, as we grant funds to Spanish companies to cooperate internationally with Russian companies in research and development.  We are also working with the EUREKA programme to cooperate with Russian companies.'


Eric Uslaner, Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland – College Park

Eric Uslaner came to the April Conference to speak at the4th LCSR International Workshop ‘Social and Cultural Changes in Cross-National Perspective: Values and Modernization’, as well as to moderate the session ‘Gender Attitudes and Gender Inequality’, which took place on April 2.

‘This is my first time at the April Conference, but I’ve been in Russia once before, in 2005, when I spent a couple of days in Moscow and two weeks in Novosibirsk. Over these years the country has gotten wealthier and more organized. Speaking about this visit, I had made the decision to come here a long time ago, and I don’t think that the conflicts between the United States and Russia have really affected the interactions of the conference. I’ve been talking to some individuals at the HSE about potential cooperation in research between our institutions, but we haven’t made any arrangements yet.’


Renira Gambarato, Associate Professor at the HSE Faculty of Media Communications

Renira Rampazzo Gambarato is a conference participant who is presenting a report called ‘Transmedia Storytelling in Russia: The Moral of the Story’ at the session ‘Identity of TV and Transmedia’ (Section ‘Media and Communications’).

‘It’s my first April conference. I’m very impressed by the huge size of the conference. I’m also really impressed that the HSE is able to organize such a big event with speakers from several parts of the world. There are a lot of interesting issues being raised in presentations from Russia and other countries, such as France, the United States and others. I am concentrating on media communications where I have decided to dedicate my entire day.  I will also speak about transmedia storytelling in Russia’.