HSE Takes Part in BRICS Summit
On July 6–7, 2025, the 17th BRICS Summit took place in Rio de Janeiro. For the first time in the organisation’s history, representatives of civil society from BRICS countries participated. HSE Vice Rector, Head of the BRICS Expert Council–Russia, and Co-Chair of the Russian Chapter the BRICS Civil Forum Victoria Panova attended the meeting of the bloc’s national leaders.
In the run-up to the summit, a special session of the Civil BRICS Council was held in Rio de Janeiro on July 4–5. Representatives of civil society from the member countries reached consensus on a set of recommendations, which were formally presented to the heads of state on July 6 during the summit.
The presentation of these recommendations at the highest level marked the culmination of months of work within the BRICS civil track, which brought together over 120 public organisations from BRICS member and partner countries. Since the beginning of the year, dozens of online consultations had been held to develop a coordinated position. In April and May, HSE University hosted roundtable discussions involving the Russian chapter of the Civil BRICS Council, during which thematic working groups drafted position papers. A key milestone in the preparation process was the first on-site session of the Civil BRICS Council, held on July 4–5 in Rio de Janeiro. The special session brought together delegations of civil society activists, experts, and academic representatives from BRICS countries and their partners.
The final document outlined proposals across seven key areas of the Global South’s agenda. The recommendations focus on enhancing cooperation in the social, economic, technological and cultural spheres, expanding academic exchange, strengthening digital sovereignty, promoting sustainable development, and formalising civil society participation within the BRICS framework. Collectively, they reflect a desire for a fairer and more equitable world order in which the interests of developing nations and the voice of civil society play an increasingly prominent role.
Victoria Panova
‘Civil BRICS is not just a movement. It is not merely a club. It is a family. For the first time, we can say that BRICS represents a qualitatively new form of international alliance. Civil BRICS is an important complement to this, as the process clearly demonstrates how close we are and how much we can accomplish together for the benefit of our peoples,’ noted Victoria Panova. She added that the formalisation of the Civil BRICS Council was made possible through the combined efforts of all member states, with crucial institutional steps taken during Russia’s presidency in 2024.
The establishment of the Civil BRICS Council was enshrined in the Kazan Declaration in July 2024. It became a natural continuation of the BRICS Civil Forums held annually since 2015. Over the past decade, this track of public diplomacy has evolved into a permanent platform for dialogue between civil society organisations and BRICS governments.
For several years, HSE University has been providing expert support for civil society engagement within the BRICS framework. The university actively contributes to shaping Russia’s people-to-people agenda and helps to promote the values of equitable dialogue, sustainable development, and inclusive community involvement in international cooperation processes.
The next on-site meeting of the Civil BRICS Council is scheduled for October 2025 in the city of Salvador, Brazil. It will continue the discussion of implementation mechanisms for the proposed initiatives and explore ways to broaden the participation of Global South countries in the bloc’s agenda.
See also:
‘It Is a Great Honour for Us to Be Partners’
In late March 2026, an official meeting took place between a delegation from HSE University and delegations from Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU); the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; and the Embassy of Vietnam in the Russian Federation. The participants discussed key areas of cooperation that will help strengthen ties not only between the universities, but also between the two countries.
How the Brain Processes a Word: HSE Researchers Compare Reading Routes in Adults and Children
Researchers from the HSE Center for Language and Brain used magnetoencephalography to study how the brains of adults and children respond to words during reading. They showed that in children the brain takes longer to process words that are frequently used in everyday speech, while rare words and pseudowords are processed in the same way—slowly and in parts. With age, the system is reorganised: high-frequency words shift to a fast route, whereas new letter combinations are still analysed slowly. The study was published in the journal Psychophysiology.
How Neural Networks Detect and Interpret Wordplay: New Insights from HSE Researchers
An international team including researchers from the HSE Faculty of Computer Science has presented KoWit-24, an annotated dataset of 2,700 Russian-language Kommersant news headlines containing wordplay. The dataset enables an assessment of how artificial intelligence detects and interprets wordplay. Experiments with five large language models show that even advanced systems still make mistakes, and that interpreting wordplay is more challenging for them than detecting it. The results were presented at the RANLP conference; the paper is available on Arxiv.org, and the dataset and the code for reproducing the experiments are available on GitHub.
HSE Holds Exams, Quizzes, and Selection Rounds for School Students in Tashkent and Bishkek
More than 3,000 international school students took part in the INTO HSE International Olympiad, whose award ceremonies were held in Tashkent and Bishkek in March 2026. The university’s outreach events also included final examinations, presentations of academic programmes, and on-site selection tests for prospective applicants. In Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, nearly 200 participants received diplomas as winners and prize-winners. The best of them will be eligible to apply for state-funded places at HSE.
BRICS International School Held in Delhi
The results of the BRICS International School: New Generation, which was held in Delhi, proved that young people have become key participants in the global dialogue. The event brought together 200 young leaders from leading universities and expert centres in India. The programme was organised by the BRICS Expert Council–Russia, based at HSE University, together with the Russian House in New Delhi with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
HSE Researchers Experimentally Demonstrate Positive Effects of Urban Parks on the Brain
Scientists at HSE University have investigated the effect of parks on the cognitive and emotional resources of city dwellers. The researchers compared brain electrical activity in 30 participants while they watched videos of walks through parks and along busy highways. The results showed that green urban environments with trees produce a consistent effect across individuals, helping the brain calm down and relax. By contrast, walks along busy streets were found to be distracting. The findings have been published in Scientific Reports.
HSE to Launch Laboratories in Space Research and Nanoelectronics with One of India’s Top Universities
Scientists from the HSE University and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) will carry out joint research in the storage, transmission, and processing of data in space systems. A second major project will be a laboratory for superconducting spintronics—a promising field in modern nanoelectronics.
Scientists Show That Peer Influence Can Be as Effective as Expert Advice
Eating habits can be shaped not only by the authority of medical experts but also through ordinary conversations among friends. Researchers at HSE University have shown that advice from peers to reduce sugar consumption is just as effective as advice from experts. The study's findings have been published in Frontiers in Nutrition.
HSE University to Host Second ‘Genetics and the Heart’ Congress
HSE University, the National Research League of Cardiac Genetics, and the Central State Medical Academy of the Administrative Directorate of the President will hold the Second ‘Genetics and the Heart’ Congress with international participation. The event will take place on February 7–8, 2026, at the HSE University Cultural Centre.
HSE University Develops Tool for Assessing Text Complexity in Low-Resource Languages
Researchers at the HSE Centre for Language and Brain have developed a tool for assessing text complexity in low-resource languages. The first version supports several of Russia’s minority languages, including Adyghe, Bashkir, Buryat, Tatar, Ossetian, and Udmurt. This is the first tool of its kind designed specifically for these languages, taking into account their unique morphological and lexical features.