We continue introducing prospective students to the professors of HSE University-St Petersburg. Alexandra Pakhomova, a philologist and anthropologist, delivers courses in the bachelor's and master's programmes at the Department of Philology. She will be your guide to the world of folklore, semiotics and the Russian literature of the 20th century. Find out why it is important to find a good thesis supervisor, what philologists and detectives have in common and what scents can tell about the past in the interview with Alexandra Pakhomova.

Victoria Shirnina is a student of the Bachelor's programme 'Asian and African Studies' at HSE University-St Petersburg. Now, the girl lives in Japan where she studies under the student exchange programme at the Tokyo International University. In the interview, Victoria shared her impression of the studies in Japan and gave some advice to those who are only planning to participate in the mobility programme.

HSE University-St Petersburg has five owned dormitories on Shevchenko, Lensoveta, Zaporozhskaya, Vitebskaya and Serpuhovskaya Streets. All of them are in good condition and ready to provide students with the necessary level of comfort. Each building has Wi-Fi, cosy rooms, necessary household and kitchen appliances as well as convenient coworking spaces where one can study and communicate with peers from different cities and countries. Besides, recently, the university has renovated dormitories on Shevchenko and Vitebskaya Streets.

Arina Bykova is a 2020 graduate of the Bachelor's programme 'Sociology and Social Informatics'. For more than two years, she worked for the company 'Selectel' and then moved to 'Yandex 360' in a position in HR marketing. Her interest in marketing aroused in her thanks to her bachelor's studies and volunteering at the Career Centre. Find out why the sociological studies are interesting, which skills turned out to be the most useful and how the graduate changed her career track.

HSE University-St Petersburg held the International Summer School & Conference on Artificial Intelligence—ISSCAI 2024. It was organised by the School of Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science together with the Laboratory for Social and Cognitive Informatics supported by VK and other partners. A one-week intensive course gathered talented students, PhD students and developers from all over the country—from Moscow to Yekaterinburg as well as Kazakhstan and Egypt. Especially for them, leading experts from Russia, the UAE and India delivered courses on key trends in the sphere of artificial intelligence: from computer vision to music signal processing.

The company 'Business Solutions and Technologies' (BST)—one of the largest consulting and auditing companies in Russia—has become a strategic partner of the Master's programme 'Comparative Politics of Eurasia'. Timur Tursunov, Director of the BST Management Consulting Office, explains what management consulting is, what competencies are required to become a BST employee and why consulting companies are interested in cooperating with the programmes on social sciences.