Scientific Conference of Young Researchers Took Place at the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs
The event was organized by the HSE Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs represented by the International Laboratory on World Order Studies and the New Regionalism, together with the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences.
In total, more than 20 reports were presented at the conference, divided into 3 sections: 'The problem of Euro-Atlantic transformation as a challenge for the unity of Greater Europe', 'Russia in the institutional space of Greater Europe and Greater Eurasia: security and development issues', 'Russia and the EAEU: integration issues and foreign economic cooperation'. Early career researchers delivered reports under the guidance of section moderators, invited specialists from both institutions.
Natalya Kondratyeva, Ph.D., Associate Professor of International Relations Department, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Scientific Secretary of Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences; head of The Center for Economic Integration of the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences, made an introductory report and noted the particular importance of holding such events for professional dialogue platform formation and the exchange of views between young specialists on foreign policy directions that are strategically important for Russia.
The Conference opening section included a wide range of topics devoted to internal and external threats to European states, contemporary conflicts of interest, using Brexit as an example and analyzing Russia's strategic partnership with Greater Europe. Within the section, the moderators repeatedly emphasized the absolute importance of the participants’ research works and were pleasantly surprised by the wide variety of questions to the speakers.
The second section “Russia in the institutional space of Greater Europe and Greater Eurasia: Security and Development Problems” was noted by the Conference section moderators as highly professional. The speakers addressed deep and important topics for exploring the space of Greater Europe and Greater Eurasia, focusing on the economic, political, interethnic aspects. The section included topics related not only to popular areas of research, but also to little-studied such as modern biological threats from Greater Eurasia.
Section 3 contained the specialists’ reports from various fields of knowledge: history, international relations, economics and law, which allowed the widest possible consideration of integration processes and foreign economic cooperation between Russia and the EEU. According to the participants, the final section was held in the most friendly atmosphere. For the whole day of the Conference, the speakers had the opportunity to meet and exchange contacts. The event organizers emphasized that after the speeches, many participants remained in the subsequent sections to listen to their colleagues, which indicated the relevance of the topics chosen by the speakers. According to A. Likhacheva, Deputy Dean for science FMEIA who moderated the session, the reports were of high scientific importance and were undoubtedly rather interesting.
The conference participants unanimously agreed that it was necessary to develop cooperation between the Russian Academy of Sciences institutes, the Higher School of Economics and other research and educational institutions.