What happens when a love for research knows no limit? It leads to a career in academia. How to start off on the right foot in science? What makes a young scientist successful in the eyes of the academic community and what do they do in postdoc programmes? Vladislav Khvostov, a graduate of the HSE University School of Psychology who is currently doing research in a postdoc programme at the University of Iceland, explained this and more to Success Builder.

Maxim Bogachev first heard about HSE University during a 9th-grade class on economics, but ultimately decided to study at the Faculty of Applied Political Science. In this interview with Age-mates, he explained what a civil religion is, why Trump’s victory came as a surprise to U.S. sociologists, and what he’ll do over the winter holiday.

The rector wished happy holidays to the HSE family and urged everyone to believe in holiday magic, if only for a while. ‘May your wishes come true. Let’s keep together in the coming year and move our university forward. I hope that the new year will be good for all of us. Happy New Year!’

Elena Ilyina successfully combined studies of management and law, which helps her in her current job at Rosatom. As the Director for State Support, she has gained interesting experience overseeing several different divisions. In this interview with Success Builder, Ms Ilyina explained what an innovative company and nuclear medicine are, how Rosatom works with scientists from universities, and why building a career at the company is not only easy, but also interesting.

HSE University Faculty of Mathematics graduate Sonya Pashchevskaya did not become a mathematician but went instead into the natural sciences. However, her university background comes in very handy when studying the bonobo great apes. In this interview with Age-mates, she talks about the advantages of tent life, the application of graph theory to primatology, and a female ape named Olga.

HSE University ICEF graduate Yaroslav Kolodyazhnyy switched from the investment industry to IT and is now a project manager in the Yandex Corporate Development Department in Dubai. In this interview with Success Builder, he spoke about the benefits of student networking, the right way to approach a job search, and what project managers do at Yandex.