Aleksander Voloshin met with university professors and students in the Golden Hall. Voloshin was a former head of the Presidential Administration and chairman of the board of such large companies as RAO “UES” and “Norilsk Nickel.” He is now primarily involved in projects on science and innovation, serving on the Yandex director’s council, supervisory board of the Higher School of Economics, the coordination committee of the Skolkovo school, and others. In a brief introduction, EUSP rector Oleg Kharkhordin remarked that such a shift in interests is similar to the ideas of Bourdieu.

The first lecture, given by Stéphane Lambrecht (Université de Valenciennes), was on the overlapping generations model. Lambrecht first presented a basic version of the model, then showed methods of its application in analyzing the sustainability of natural resource usage and pollution control.

The second day of a conference organized by the French Consulate and the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) took place at the European University.

The aim of Djankov’s lecture was to present to EUSP students and professors the research directions of the recently formed Laboratory of Economic History (HSE, NES), which he currently leads.

Birgit Hansl and Sergey Ulatov delivered the World Bank’s regular report on the Russian economy in the EUSP’s Gold Hall. The report was primarily concerned with the uncertainty of economic policy in Russia.

The conference was dedicated to the role of informal spaces in the production of innovation. It was organized by the EUSP’s Center for Science and Technology Studies, and supported by a megagrant from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, recieved for the study of Russian IT specialists and their diaspora.

Alexander Knysh gave a presentation as part of the Oriental Seminar in the EUSP’s Gold Hall. Mr. Knysh is the head of the Laboratory for Analysis and Modeling of Social Processes at SPbSU, and professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan.

Renowned French sociologist Michel Wieviorka gave a lecture in the EUSP’s Golden Hall. Mr. Wieviorka is a professor at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), in Paris.

Konstantin Severinov, professor at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and head of the Molecular, Environmental and Applied Microbiology Laboratory at St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, gave a lecture in the Conference Hall. What might explain the similarity between all living things? We agree that this similarity is due to common ancestry, though there are parts of this hypothesis that are not necessarily true.

Saskia Sassen works in the fields of globalization, international migration and urban studies. She is the author of more than ten books, the most well-known being The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo, which was first published in 1991 and republished ten years later as a new edition. In her research, Sassen posits the concept of an economy based on the concept of a global city: the contemporary global economy can be conceived of as a network of trade and finance chains whose links are composed of large (global) cities.

In contemporary economics, the term “capital” implies not only physical capital, but human capital as well — in the form of knowledge, skills, health, and administrative capabilities. There is also social capital, reflecting social ties and interpersonal relations and trust. Human and social capital, much like physical, can accrue and bring profits to a firm.

 The EUSP International Programs have started the new academic year for the 17th time since 1998, when IMARES hosted its first students almost two decades ago. Fourteen countries are represented this year by students from the USA, Denmark, Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Estonia, Greece, Malaysia, Australia and South Korea. Our students, faculty and administration gathered on September 1 for a short opening ceremony of the Fall '14 semester at the EUSP Golden Hall to meet and to introduce themselves.

On June 25th at a ceremony in the EUSP’s Conference Hall, William Rosenberg was awarded an honorary doctorate. Rosenberg is a professor at the University of Michigan and a member of the EUSP Department of History’s International Advisory Board. After the official ceremony, Rosenberg gave a semi-formal speech about his own path as a historian, the first years of the European University, and about how shortages, violence, and loss have continued to define the history of Russia after the revolution of 1917.

On June 18-19, the EUSP’s Center for Science and Technology Studies hosted a conference titled “Explorers and Pirates: Digital Creators and the Creation of Value(s).” The conference took place at the European University and the hotel Radisson Sonya.

On June 30, Lexingron Books published a new book written by the Center for Modernization Studies (М-Center) Vladimir Gel'man, Dmitry Travin, Otar Marganiya.