Published on: 2026-06-08
Source: Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University of Peter the Great –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
At the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (RAU, Yerevan), the defenses of two candidate dissertations by graduate students of the Higher Engineering and Economic School of the Institute of Industrial Management, Economics, and Trade of the Polytechnic took place.
Since 2023, VIISH and the Department of Economics and Finance of RAU have been implementing the network master’s program “Finance”, a retraining program on data analysis in Python, the project “Invited Lecturer”, joint publications and sections at the SPBPU IDE conference, ECOPROM, INPROM, and RAU.
The new stage was joint training of highly qualified personnel: Professor of VIES Natalya Viktorova audits the Specialized Council of the RAS, and scientists from two universities jointly supervise postgraduate students. The first result is the defences of graduate students in Political Science at the Specialized Council on Economics under the RAS, which ended in a unanimous positive decision.
The two defenses of our graduate students in Yerevan are a strategic result that the Higher School of Engineering and Economics was consistently aiming for. Polina Yakob and Tonni Sebbagala chose truly complex topics and brought them to the strict, instrument-working level demanded by both science and practice. It is fundamentally valuable for our school that the graduate students of VIES successfully defend themselves in an authoritative international council, which includes members of the Russian Academy of Sciences — precisely for the sake of such a level of training of highly qualified personnel, we have built a partnership with the Russian-Armenian University.This is genuine cross-cultural integration of science and education, and we intend to develop it further,
Both works were defended at the Specialized Council on Economics, established under the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2014. It includes leading scientists from Armenia and Russia, corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and the Russian Academy of Arts (RAA), staff of the Institute of Economics of the RAS, the Institute of Philology of the RAS, and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. At the meeting, the corresponding members of the RAS Mikhail Golovnin and Alexander Shirov worked.
Polina Yakob defended her dissertation on the topic “Anomalous price movements in the cryptocurrency market: entropy approach to financial risk management.” The scientific supervisor was Professor Mariam Voskanian, Head of the Department of Economics and Finance at RANEPA. The scientific consultant was Professor Dmitry Rodionov from HSE SPbPU. The opponents were Professor Alim Fiapushev from the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and Candidate of Economic Sciences Samvel Saakyan from RANEPA.
A methodology for assessing the price risks of cryptocurrencies based on entropy indicators has been proposed, capturing informational shocks before their reflection in quotes. The approach combines ARIMA forecasting with entropy analysis of news; for Bitcoin data from 2017-2024, the accuracy of price direction forecasting reached 69%. The results are applicable in financial monitoring, investment fund operations, banks, and regulators.
The work is fully completed and meets the basic requirements that are applied to doctoral dissertations both in Russia and Armenia. It is felt that the person is prepared. This is our new direction of scientific cooperation with Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, and even more success lies ahead in this field,” noted the chairman of the council, RAU Rector Edvard Sandoyan.
The dissertation is truly innovative, and the dissertation candidate is undoubtedly ready for scientific activity already at a high level. This defense became an excellent continuation of our fruitful cooperation with VIÉŠ, and I am confident that we will continue to develop it further,” emphasized the scientific advisor Mariam Voskanian.
Then the defense of Tonni Sebbaggal’s dissertation took place on the topic “Assessment of the institutional environment for the development of scientific research and innovations in the Russian Federation.” The scientific supervisor was Professor Andrey Zaitsev from the VIESH SPbPU, the opponents were Professor Ashot Tavadyan from RAU and Candidate of Economic Sciences Egine Petrosyan from RAU, and the leading organizing institution was the Armenian State Economic University.
The study proposes a model of the institutional environment of the RF regions, combining institutional-evolutionary, spatial, and innovation approaches. Using the DEA method with factorial and regression analysis on data from 2019-2024, development stimuli and barriers were identified, a typology of regions was constructed, and mechanisms for reducing interregional asymmetry were proposed. The results have been integrated into the educational process and the development of regional development strategies.
Tonni Sebbag conducted extensive and systematic work: he not only described the differences between regions, but also proposed a measurable instrument applicable in the development of economic policy. It is especially valuable that the research was brought to practical recommendations and is already being applied in regional management,” noted the scientific supervisor, professor of the Higher School of Economics SPbPU, Andrey Zaitsev.
Both dissertations were completed in the laboratories of VIESH SPbPU — NIL “Polite-Invest” and the educational laboratory “Modeling and Digitization of Socio-Economic Systems” — under the supervision of Associate Professors Evgeny Konnikov and Nikolay Dmitriev.
Network partnerships with foreign universities are one of the main drivers of the development of Russian education, and Slavic universities, such as the Russian-Armenian University, play a special role here. The defense of a graduate student’s thesis at the dissertation council of another university is dual education in action, where science and personnel training operate within a unified international framework.For us, this is not a one-time success, but a systematic work: we are building cooperation with RASU as a space for a common scientific future of Russia and Armenia, — commented Dmitry Arsenyev, Vice-Rector for International Activities of SPbPU, corresponding member of RAS.
Please note; This information is unprocessed content received directly from the source of information. It represents an exact report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.