‘A Symbiosis of Political Science and Data Analytics’: How HSE University–St Petersburg Graduate and Professor Combines Humanities and Technical Sciences (original) (raw)

— You switched from political science to data analytics. Why did you choose this master's programme, and did it meet your expectations?

— The idea to combine technical and humanities majors appeared when I was in my second bachelor's year. I observed how data science methods worked in social sciences during the course 'Quantitative Methods' and the minor course 'Data Science.' Then I realised I have a heart for it. Choosing a master's programme, I opted for 'Data Analytics for Politics and Society' as it not only taught a wide range of analytical tools but also offered a great variety of career tracks after graduation: from academic activities to work in the public or private sector. The continuity in education of bachelor's and master's programmes was important for me as well: I wanted to develop as a political scientist further.

The programme exceeded my expectations and made my dream come true: they taught us to solve real-life political and social problems with the help of data. Besides, it evolved—courses in NLP, agent-based modelling, and ML appeared. Those who are applying now will get even more than I did! But the main thing I gained is the freedom to choose. I could go into academia, the public sector, or business. I chose all of these directions at once.

— For several years, the main object of your research has been populism. What attracts you to this topic?

— I would say it's the paradox of this phenomenon. Researchers agree on an understanding of which political leaders and parties are populist. However, they cannot reach a consensus on what characterises populism and, consequently, why populists started to play a more significant role compared to other political actors. An attempt to join in this discussion was reflected in my theses during my bachelor's and master's degrees. At first, I was interested in Russian representatives of this political trend, and I analysed their rhetoric in social media posts. Later, I switched to European populists and their electoral outcomes in comparative and temporal dynamics.

Along with that, a minor segment of my academic interests is studying the discourse on social networks and e-governance, in the framework of which I carried out several research and contest projects.

— Why should political scientists know programming languages?

— On the one hand, it might seem that these courses can be useful only to those who are going to apply mostly quantitative methods in their work. However, I believe that supporters of the qualitative research approach should also pay attention to these disciplines. Firstly, some tools can be helpful in qualitative research—for instance, for processing and analysing interviews. Secondly, an understanding of quantitative methods allows us to better analyse existing research, which uses statistics, based on which we make our own arguments.

— You've graduated from HSE University–St Petersburg and stayed at the university, taking on a new role. What is it like to switch from being a student to a professor?

— I think there is an aspect which differentiates and at the same time unites these two roles. When you prepare materials for students, you keep learning yourself. However, these studies are a little different from what you experienced in your student years. As you have to deliver the information you already know most clearly, you start perceiving it in a new way. In this regard, you sometimes have to fight your old habits and sometimes discover new details in an already-familiar topic. From time to time, the source of such thoughts is students' questions.

When I started teaching, I felt panic caused by the responsibility, as my course is aimed at preparing students for an internal exam. But this feeling dissipated as more students appeared who were interested in the material, actively discussed it, and tried to get a good grade.

I teach 'Python Programming Basics' and 'Quantitative Methods in Political Research' for political science bachelor's students. The goal of these courses was to give students the tools for research based on statistics. Up until recently, training and implementation of such methods were based on the programming language R. However, due to a number of factors—firstly, I attribute this to the development of AI and ML—in the last few years, Python has started playing an increasingly larger role in this field. I want to believe that I manage to help students understand this topic, relying on my experience in working with these programming languages in both research and applied projects.

— Which projects are you working on outside the university?

— I participated in a project of the Accounts Chamber on assessing the openness of public authorities. My role was to assess the quality and accessibility of the open data displayed by government services. I also worked at the Centre for Current Policy, where I engaged in the quantitative analysis of an information field and analytical reports. The centre's research projects featured data analysis, which required skills gained during my master's programme.

At that stage, apart from studying and teaching at HSE University–St Petersburg, I do test assignments at private companies and dive into the topics of business analysis and product analytics.

Test assignments in various companies reflect the nature of work, the level of organisation, and prospects inside the enterprise. The tasks are very diverse: at some companies they are fully technical—for instance, to write MySQL queries with the existing database to get the selections you are interested in—while others can be more creative. At one company, with the help of graphic tools, I had to depict a business process for an application. Then, I had to describe for potential contractors its advantages, and for business representatives how this product can meet the company's current needs. Identifying such business needs, searching for ways to solve them, and shaping such solutions in a format which is clear to the contractors are the nature of business analysis. At least, this is what I think now.

In the first stages of diving into this area, it seemed to me that I faced intuitively understandable processes like basic schemes of SWOT analysis. However, when studying the specialised literature, it turned out that there was a huge number of approaches to building business processes and an equally wide range of tools for the work of a business analyst. It is interesting and obviously inspiring for further development in this sphere.

— The next step is a PhD programme. What are your motivations and goals?

— I passed the competitive selection process for a PhD programme, and I am planning to grow in the academic sphere. The main motive is, on the one hand, a desire to bring my research skills to perfection and write a work which would be interesting to read, just like it was interesting for me to read articles in prestigious international journals. On the other hand, I want to improve further as a professor and communicate with students. At the same time, I would like to fulfil my potential beyond the academic sphere. I think both these spheres can complement each other in terms of developing and using my skills.

— What do you enjoy more: teaching or research activities?

— I enjoy teaching more, primarily because of communication with students. Perhaps, in the future, I would like to focus on this part of my professional activities. However, I believe one doesn't work without the other. It is impossible to explain the importance of certain tools I teach if I, as a researcher, don't use them and don't have any significant results. So, just like in the case of mixing two majors, I enjoy the symbiosis of two inseparable activities.

— The last question: how would you describe HSE University in three words?

— People, atmosphere, freedom.