Current Issues in Social Development Amid Digital Transformation Discussed at BelSU

Organized by the Department of Social Technologies and Public Service within the Institute of Economics and Management of Belgorod National research University (BelSU), the event attracted over 200 participants from Russia and neighbouring countries. Attendees included scientists, educators, researchers, students, and postgraduates from Belgorod State University and other institutions across Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

The conference was expertly moderated by Natalia Solovyova, Acting Head of the Department, alongside Valentin Babintsev, Doctor of Philosophy and Professor in the Department of Social Technologies and Public Service. A hallmark of the department’s conferences is the exploration of potential solutions to pressing social issues.

The conference proceedings were divided into four sections: “Social Technologies of State and Municipal Administration in the Context of Digitalization of Society,” “Current Problems in Organizing Public Authority and Administration,” “Customs Regulation in the Context of Digital Transformation,” and “Challenges in Economics and Management.”

The plenary session featured a keynote address by renowned Russian political scientist Vladimir Slatinov, Doctor of Political Sciences and Head of the Department of State and Municipal Administration at Kursk State University. His presentation, titled “Local Self-Government in a Single System of Public Authority: A New Reform or Fine-Tuning?” provided a critical analysis of the new Russian Federal Law concerning local self-government. He highlighted the implications this law may have for border regions in Russia.

Associate Professor Alexander Maksimenko, Chief Researcher at the HSE University Anti-Corruption Policy Project and Training Laboratory, addressed anti-corruption risks and managerial initiatives among state and municipal employees in the digital age. His talk delved into the underexplored phenomenon of “corruption phobia” as a form of social anxiety.

Anna Dombrovskaya, Professor of Political Science at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, presented her findings on “Scale, Contexts, and User Audience of Social Media Flows on the Emigration Attitudes of Russian Youth from 2022 to 2024.” Her empirical research on migration aspirations among Russian youth generated considerable interest among attendees. Dombrovskaya emphasized that as technology evolves and becomes increasingly complex – coupled with disruptive external information flows and psychological influences – there exists a significant imbalance between the scale of emigration-related social media engagement among young Russians and the country’s responses to these emerging risks.

Professor Vitaly Zotov from the Educational and Scientific Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology presented his report titled “Social Technologist in the System of State and Municipal Administration: Addressing the Question of Social Status Determination.” In his presentation, he emphasized the necessity of establishing a social engineering system in Russia and shared his proposals for its institutionalization.