HSE University Faculty of Computer Science Holds Meetup on Data Science in Yerevan

© HSE University

In late April, the HSE University Faculty of Computer Science organised its first data science meetup in the capital of Armenia together with the Russian-Armenian University (RAU). The event featured speakers from HSE University, Yandex, and SberDevices. The meeting featured the participation of students from Yerevan universities who have recently become acquainted with data science, as well as specialists in the field.

The event featured reports on the most relevant topics: unsuccessful projects in machine learning, the use of data science in marketing, multispeaker speech synthesis models and voice generation, artificial intelligence in neuroscience, and the landscape of neural network loss functions. In addition, RAU organised a tour of the university building for the participants.

The participants and organisers shared their impressions of the programme.

Elen Tevanyan, Expert at the HSE University Centre for Continuous Education

‘I was very happy to speak at the joint event of HSE University—my alma mater—and RAU in my home city. The meetup gathered active listeners: students, colleagues with experience in related fields, specialists and even school students! The audience’s feedback is great; they find the topics quite relatable. The questions and discussions were really deep. A large number of events in data science currently take place in Yerevan. IT companies are opening and expanding their offices here, and a powerful community of data scientists is developing. I would love to see the Faculty of Computer Science and HSE University as part of this community.’

Arman Darbinyan, Head of Department of Applied Mathematics and Informatics, Russian-Armenian University

‘The meetup featured presentations on five relevant topics. The programme was quite intensive, and the experts answered difficult questions from the audience. Such events provide an opportunity to stay abreast of modern applied problems, be aware of modern research in this area, and learn about the latest trends. We also agreed in advance to enhance cooperation with HSE University, which will be facilitated by the implementation of joint educational programmes in the field of data science and machine learning.’

Anush Brutian, Department of International Collaboration, Russian-Armenian University

‘It was a pleasure to spend time with professionals in a field other than mine. I learned a lot about things that I had never thought about before. Despite the fact that RAU and HSE University have been cooperating in different areas for many years, this event was one of the first in the field of data science, but certainly not the last! The meetup has laid an excellent foundation for enhancing cooperation. RAU is always ready to enrich its content and provide a platform for such events.’

Online Master’s Programmes at the HSE University Faculty of Computer Science

 Master of Data Science—for beginners, English-taught

 Machine Learning and Data-Intensive Systems—for continuing students, Russian-taught

Document Submission Deadlines

 April 1 to August 15, 2023—for Russian applicants to programmes starting on September 1

 April 1 to September 15, 2023—for Russian applicants to programmes starting on October 1

 November 1, 2022 to August 15, 2023—for foreign applicants to programmes starting on September 1

 November 1, 2022 to September 15, 2023—for foreign applicants to programmes starting on October 1

Vladimir Silkin, participant

‘The overall impression is great! The best speakers were Elena Kantonistova and Boris Zhestkov. Their presentations were the most useful to me. It would be nice to continue holding such events, organising workshops on specialist topics in data science, for example, “Writing a recurrent neural network for generation” or “Learning to identify birds by sound track” and “Solving small and simple problems”. It would be extremely useful and educational.’

Mikhail Bortnikov, participant

‘This is a great in-person meetup in a good place. There are top-class speakers from different fields and enough time for networking. I liked that there were reports from both engineers and researchers. It broadened the traditional outlook on data science. I specifically enjoyed the tour around the RAU site; one can see that there is scientific work going on there.’

Alexander Borzunov, participant

‘The most interesting speech was Ekaterina Lobacheva’s report “Landscape of neural networks loss functions”. This topic is one of the most interesting in modern machine learning, and her presentation was captivating and easy to understand. In addition, it was interesting to communicate with other listeners, including students and employees of local universities. There is already a data science community in Yerevan, and many events are held in English and Russian. Over the past year, several large conferences were hosted by the American University (OpenTalks.AI, PyData Yerevan) and RAU (AINL), regular meetups are held at the YSU AI Lab. Yandex holds events for experienced ML and DS specialists, and various Telegram communities organise weekly meetings for those interested in data science. It is nice to see the Faculty of Computer Science on this list now!’

Online Courses at the Continuing Education Centre of the Faculty of Computer Science:

 Mathematics for Data Analysis—this course is suitable both for those who are unfamiliar with higher mathematics and those who want to refresh their knowledge. Students are introduced to the necessary material in mathematical analysis, linear algebra, probability theory, and discrete mathematics in order to fully understand and solve data analysis problems. Start: June 19^th. Details and registration here (in Russian).

 Programming in Python—this course teaches programming from scratch using the Python syntax. Students learn how to use Python to solve applied problems in a variety of areas, as well as master data analysis, visualisation, and data collection from internet resources. Start: June 26^th. Details and registration here (in Russian).