Applications Open for Student Research Paper Competition 2025

© HSE University

The annual Student Research Paper Competition (SRPC) offers students the chance to showcase their work, such as term papers or theses. It is a valuable opportunity to receive expert feedback and recommendations aimed at improving research, as well as to take the first steps in an academic career. Below we outline the key features and deadlines for submitting entries.

What Kind of Work Can be Submitted

Research papers must be original and may be prepared individually or co-authored with other students. The use of artificial intelligence tools (for text, code, images, etc) is permitted. However, it is essential to explain in the introduction or conclusion how exactly AI was used.

Ivan Gruzdev

‘The Student Research Paper Competition follows the university’s policy on the use of AI in education and research,’ says Ivan Gruzdev, Director for Internal Monitoring and Student Academic Development. ‘Artificial intelligence and generative models have significantly expanded people’s ability to produce knowledge. These opportunities must certainly be embraced, but always in line with existing academic standards.’

How to Take Part

The competition is open to research projects by students and 2025 graduates of Russian and international universities. Submissions will be accepted until October 15. Results will be announced at the end of December 2025.

Authors of papers awarded first place in their category will receive a special scholarship. Other winners will gain additional points in their portfolios, tuition fee discounts when applying for master’s programmes at HSE University, as well as an academic travel grant to attend research events worldwide. In addition, all winners and award-winners will be invited to join the Science Republic community, which brings together HSE’s youngest researchers.

‘The winners of the Student Research Paper Competition make very active use of the opportunities afforded by their success in the competition,’ Ivan Gruzdev noted. ‘Around half of them go on to join the Science Republic project. Many of those who had not yet been working in HSE laboratories at the time of the competition later join research teams as trainee researchers. And, of course, winners take an active part in academic conferences. In 2025 alone, more than 20 winning students made use of their travel grant. The geography of these events is quite diverse: various Russian cities, as well as Brazil, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Italy, and other countries.’

Full details on the terms of the competition and benefits for winners are available here.

Ivan Gruzdev encouraged young researchers not to hesitate but to be bold. ‘A successful student project does not need to be perfectly polished,’ he explained. ‘For many, this competition becomes a turning point, when they realise that what seemed like just an ordinary term paper can in fact compete at a high level and even win.’

Past winners and laureates of the Student Research Paper Competition (SRPC) have shared their experiences of preparing research, as well as their main motivation for taking part.

Andrey Manin
Laureate in the category ‘Best Undergraduate and Specialist Research Paper in the Natural Sciences,’ 2023; 3rd place in the category ‘Best Master’s and Graduate Research Paper in the Natural Sciences,’ 2024

For a young researcher, the main motivation for taking part in the Student Research Paper Competition is the opportunity to make oneself and one’s work known, as well as to receive an expert assessment of the research. As a laureate, I joined the Science Republic and gained extra points for my application for the Increased State Academic Scholarship. In 2024, as an SRPC winner, I applied for a travel grant to attend an international research conference in my field. These points also helped me secure the Increased State Academic Scholarship for the current semester. The conference I received the grant for took place in Sochi in May 2025. Many international scholars attended, and I was able to speak with some of them in person. I discussed my research with a professor from Turkey. Naturally, our conversation was in English, which helped me improve my speaking skills. This experience gave me not only new knowledge but also useful contacts, for which I am sincerely grateful to HSE.

My advice to those considering entering the Student Research Paper Competition is not to leave submission to the last moment. It is better to start preparing early, to avoid stress and to have time to polish everything.

Participation in this competition is like training for a short-distance run. Without such contests, students cannot develop the key research skills that will later help them to produce well-structured reports, promote their research projects effectively, secure funding, and much more. This short run is the foundation for successfully tackling future academic marathons.

Ekaterina Filimoshina
2nd place in the category ‘Best Master’s and Graduate Research Paper in Computer Science’, 2024

I kept taking part in SRPC because I wanted to tick a personal box and assess my progress. And I really like the whole idea of the competition. From the start, I knew I wanted to use the academic travel grant for a major international event in computer science.

Alongside the joy of winning and adding to my portfolio, I received the travel grant I had hoped for, and my academic supervisor was awarded the title ‘Best Lecturer.’ I travelled to the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN 2025) in Rome. And I was able to discuss my work with professors and present my key findings to students.

My advice for writing the introduction is to imagine you are explaining your idea to a classmate unfamiliar with the subject. In the main part, write as if you are explaining to yourself, arranging it clearly and logically. And in the conclusion, write as if addressing an expert in the field—perhaps even surprising them with your new results.

In my view, the SRPC is an excellent opportunity to compete with peers, receive objective feedback from external experts at HSE, enhance your portfolio, and prepare a scientific text that could serve as the basis for a publication. My SRPC project became the starting point for papers presented at the international conferences IJCNN and ICML 2025.

Yana Stepanishcheva
2nd place in the category ‘Best Master’s and Graduate Research Paper in Public and Municipal Administration,’ 2023

Winning the competition gave me the chance to apply for a travel grant. I was able to attend a conference in Almaty (Kazakhstan). It was a new experience of presenting in public, receiving detailed feedback, and engaging in useful informal discussions afterwards. Based on this experience, I revised my work for publication and was fully prepared for questions during my master’s thesis defence. I also took the opportunity to visit the city’s main landmarks in my free time.

For those planning to take part in the Student Research Paper Competition, I would say: don’t be afraid to give it a try. During your studies you will almost certainly produce a really good project or term paper. The competition is a great motivation to refine your work. My advice is to cut down on vague wording and take your supervisor’s feedback into account.