Science without borders: PhD students of SPbPU defended their candidate dissertations under the joint scientific supervision of SPbPU and RAU

At the end of May, defenses were held at the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (RAU, Yerevan) for two PhD students from the Higher School of Engineering and Economics (HSEE) of the Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade (IPMET) of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU), for the degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences.

Since 2023, HSEE and the Department of Economics and Finance of RAU have been implementing a joint Master’s program «Finance», a professional retraining program in data analysis using Python, a «Visiting Lecturer» project, joint publications, and joint conference sections at SPBPU IDE, ECOPROM, INPROM, and RAU.

A new milestone has been the joint training of highly qualified personnel: Professor of HSEE Natalia Viktorova is a member of the Specialized Dissertation Council of RAU, and scholars from both universities provide joint supervision for PhD students. The first result is the successful defenses of SPbPU PhD students at the RAU Specialized Council in Economics, which concluded with unanimous positive decisions.

Both dissertations were defended before the Specialized Council in Economics, established at RAU in 2014. The council includes leading scholars from Armenia and Russia, corresponding members of the National Academies of Sciences of Armenia and Russia, researchers from the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the Institute of Economic Forecasting of RAS, and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. The meetings were attended by RAS Corresponding Members Mikhail Golovnin and Alexandr Shirov.

Polina Yakob defended her dissertation on «Abnormal price movements in the cryptocurrency market: an entropy approach to financial risk management.» Her research supervisor was Professor, Head of the Department of Economics and Finance at RAU Mariam Voskanyan; her scientific consultant was Professor of HSEE at SPbPU Dmitry Rodionov; the opponents were Professor of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Alim Fiapshev and Candidate of Economic Sciences at RAU Samvel Saakyan.

The study proposes a methodology for assessing cryptocurrency price risks based on entropy indicators, capturing information shocks before they are reflected in price quotes. The approach combines ARIMA forecasting with entropy analysis of news; using Bitcoin data from 2017–2024, the accuracy of price direction forecasts reached 69%. The results are applicable in financial monitoring, the operation of investment funds, banks, and regulators.

Next, the defense of the dissertation by Tonni Sebbagala took place on the topic «Assessment of the institutional environment for the development of research and innovation markets in the Russian Federation.» His research supervisor was Professor of HSEE at SPbPU Andrey Zaytsev; the opponents were Professor of RAU Ashot Tavadyan and Candidate of Economic Sciences at RAU Yegine Petrosyan; the lead organization was the Armenian State University of Economics.

The study proposes a model of the institutional environment for Russian regions, combining institutional-evolutionary, spatial, and innovation approaches. Using DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) with factor and regression analysis on data from 2019–2024, the study identifies incentives and barriers to development, constructs a typology of regions, and proposes mechanisms to reduce interregional asymmetry. The results have been incorporated into the educational process and into the development of regional development strategies.

Both dissertations were carried out in laboratories of the HSEE at SPbPU — the «Polytech-Invest» Research Laboratory and the «Modeling and Digitalization of Socio-Economic Systems» Training Laboratory — under the guidance of Associate Professors Evgeny Konnikov and Nikolay Dmitriev.

We congratulate the candidates and their research supervisors on successfully passing this most important stage on the path to becoming scholars and on their well-deserved recognition in the international academic community!