HSE Institute of Media Hosts Third «Young Media» Student Research Conference
The event opened with welcome remarks by Ernest Matskyavichyus, Director of the HSE Institute of Media, who highlighted the impressive variety of topics presented by the participants.
«We see this conference as an excellent rehearsal for defending term papers and graduation theses. It is teachers and fellow students who are best placed to listen carefully to your arguments, suggest new ideas, offer constructive criticism and ask the right questions. I am sure that «Young Media” is a promising platform for academic discussion. I wish everyone the best of luck on this journey», said Ernest Matskyavichyus.
Dean of the Faculty of Creative Industries, HSE University, Andrey Bystritskiy also underlined the importance of the conference for today’s media landscape.
«The idea behind our conference is quite profound: by their very nature, media are always young. They create a space for communication — a world in which meanings, values and viewpoints already exist,» said Andrey Bystritskiy.
Adviser to the Rector and Professor at the HSE Institute of Media Oleg Y. Solodukhin stressed that research and scholarship occupy a special place at the Institute.
«Whatever practical field you choose, this way of thinking will serve you well. You do not have to become professional academics, but you should always keep a researcher’s mindset — in your head and in your heart,» noted Oleg Solodukhin.
The «Young Media» conference brought together early-career researchers presenting projects and case studies at the intersection of media, culture and technology. The programme featured eleven tracks covering a wide range of topics — from digital tools and media management to journalism, intercultural communication, video games and language practices in the media. These included «Contemporary Approaches and New Technologies», «Philosophical Issues in Media, Cultural Studies», «Media Economics and Media Management», «Intercultural Communication», «Mediatisation of Art», «Video Games in the Media Sphere», as well as a new special section for school students, among others.
The «Contemporary Approaches and New Technologies» track explored topics central to today’s media landscape: social media marketing, AI and media influence, memes as part of SMM strategies, multimedia technologies in education and the digital transformation of brands. Within the philosophical track, participants discussed media aesthetics, the ontology of information, the ethics of communication and the role of influencers. In turn, the ‘Mediatisation of Art’ section invited attendees to look at influencers, gamification, transmedia projects and the digital strategies of museums and brands from new angles.
This year’s conference was marked by a sharp rise in participation. While around 50 abstracts were submitted to the first event and about 150 the following year, the latest call attracted five times as many applications as at the very start. At the same time, as one of the organisers, Professor Gregory V. Pruttskov (HSE Institute of Media), noted, the selection criteria for the third conference were also considerably stricter.
«We received submissions from hundreds of students and postgraduate researchers, including from regions that had never taken part before. We had to turn down quite a number of abstracts. At the first conference, we accepted everyone; this time, we applied a much tougher filter,» said Gregory Pruttskov.
Associate Professor at the HSE Institute of Media and conference co-organiser Zhanna Moskvina highlighted the growing involvement of early-year students and participants from other regions.
«I am particularly pleased that more first- and second-year students are now joining the conference. This year, Donetsk State University was very actively represented. Unfortunately, their students were only able to attend online, but we are nonetheless delighted that participants from regions far from Moscow could take part in our conference and showed such strong, genuinely engaged interest,» said Zhanna Moskvina.
Deputy Director of the HSE Institute of Media and conference co-organiser Oleg A. Dmitriev noted the international and interdisciplinary nature of one of the sessions.
«It was a real pleasure to moderate a section that brought together English-speaking young scholars from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, China and Russia. The session turned out to be truly multidisciplinary: it included students from the master’s programme «Contemporary Media Research and Analytics», as well as students and doctoral candidates from the School of Foreign Languages. This created a very close, productive synergy at a conference that, this year, brought together almost 300 participants,» said Oleg Dmitriev.
The conference featured both theoretical and applied research. One paper, for example, examined the digital marketing strategy of the cosmetics brand MIXIT, while another looked at the role of recommendation systems in shaping ‘asymmetries of visibility’ on digital platforms. Other presentations focused on travel and travel-related content — the travelogue as a phenomenon of media culture and the construction of stories through digital routes.
Participants also reflected on social media as a space for marketing, cultural memory and digital identity. Presentations explored the impact of memes on brand image and the ways in which media and SMM are used to engage young people in religious communities. Speakers discussed the transformation of cultural memory in the digital age — in particular, how images of the 2000s are being reimagined in contemporary Russian-language TikTok. The programme also addressed intergenerational digital communication, including the role of emoji, and the growth of private sharing in messengers as communication shifts further into more closed digital spaces.
Mikhail Zelentsov, Associate Professor at the HSE Institute of Media and Head of the Research Skills Centre at the Faculty of Creative Industries, spoke about the long-term academic ambitions of the Institute.
«I recently put forward the idea that the HSE Institute of Media should build its own school of media studies — one that both we and our country can be proud of. We can already see several clear approaches taking shape. We also have many scholar-teachers, researchers, industry practitioners and students who are genuinely interested in academic work,» said Mikhail Zelentsov.
Importantly, the conference offers participants not only the opportunity to present their findings, but also a chance to publish them. Following previous «Young Media» conferences, collections of articles indexed in the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI) have been released. This adds weight to each paper and motivates students to take their research with greater rigor.
«I was really pleased to see that the number of tracks grew along with the number of participants. I chose the «Media Linguistics» track. It was fascinating to explore how media manifest themselves in every sphere of our lives — even in places where we hardly notice them. I also listened closely to my peers’ presentations. I think I will continue developing my research in this area and will definitely speak at the conference again next year,» shared Ekaterina, an HSE University student.
The HSE Institute of Media continues to actively promote research and remains one of Russia’s leading centres in this field. It consistently serves not only as a platform for academic discussion, but also as an active participant in conferences held in other cities. The organisers are confident that in the years ahead, «Young Media» will continue to grow, attracting an increasing number of researchers from other regions of Russia and from abroad.
Kamila Davletbaeva
Translated by Elizaveta Sineva, second-year student of the «Media Management»