I Am Excited to Be on the ‘Ground Floor’ of this Long Term Project

Marco Colosio, M.Sc., the first foreign PhD student at the Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, arrived in Moscow three weeks ago. Marco talks about his scientific interests, his background in Italy and his first impressions of Moscow and CDM-Centre. Marco is a graduate student at University of Padua (Italy), specializing in psychology psychobiology and cognitive science.

— Why did you choose Russia and the centre for cognition and decision making?

— The Centre for Cognition  &  Decision Making is a very new, international and interdisciplinary research group, lead by Prof. Vasily Klucharev. It is a modern European research and educational center which has the ambitious goal of becoming one of the leading research centers in Russia and internationally. I chose the HSE for my Ph.D. in neuro-economics since it offered me the chance to be supervised by Prof. Klucharev and work with his team. I am excited to be involved at the start of this long-term project. I am confident that I will benefit greatly from my colleagues' expertise and their international experience. I strongly believe that Higher School of Economics and the Centre for Cognition and Decision Making represents a stimulating environment in which I will have the opportunity to improve my skills, gain deep knowledge in this exciting branch of neuroscience, and to become a strong and valuable researcher. I also love the idea of developing my Ph.D. project as part of such an international and interdisciplinary research team, in which I can have the opportunity to compare and discuss my research ideas from several points of view. 

— What are your first impressions about the HSE faculty of psychology and centre for cognition and decision making?

— I met professor Vasily Klucharev and his team the day after I arrived in Moscow and I had the opportunity to have a tour of the Psychology Faculty’s laboratories and other facilities. I was fascinated by the research that they are currently conducting and impressed by the facilities available at the Centre for Cognition & Decision Making, offering the opportunity to apply a number of paradigm and techniques, and even combine them in the same study. The labs have state-of-art technology and approaches needed in modern neuro-scientific research in order to improve the efficacy of contemporary, cutting-edge studies. Moreover, I found motivated and friendly people, aspects that I believe are important for a working environment.

— Do you have any trouble with the language?

— The Russian language is very different from my native language, and of course I am experiencing some problems in daily non-structured situations, when I find it difficult to predict potential questions from others. Luckily I had the opportunity to learn to read Cyrillic and it turned out to be a crucial skill. Indeed, I have been able to travel by metro without experiencing any kind of problem, and have been learning new words everyday. I do not need to know any Russian at work, as I am daily surrounded by English speakers. On the other hand, I am very willing to learn some basics and I aim to be able to get by in daily situations as soon as possible, even thank to my Russian colleagues, who are giving me daily - and very fun - lessons and testing my knowledge on a daily basis.    

— How do you like being in Moscow? Have you ever been to other Russian cities?

— I am from a very small town in the heart of Franciacorta, northern Italy, with a population of 5,000 people, and despite the fact that I have travelled a lot across Europe, it is my first time in such a huge city. Living here is an overwhelming experience and for me. It is a dream come true. I have always felt a great attraction toward Russia, its history and its culture. I have also appreciated Russian literature and art – a keen passion that I developed after reading Crime and Punishment at the age of 17. For years I wanted to have the opportunity to visit the country and finally I realized this dream in 2011, when I had the chance to spend New Year’s eve in St. Petersburg. It was an amazing experience, which reinforced my desire to explore this incredible country. Moscow is rather different from St. Petersburg, but it is just as fascinating and full of opportunities. I want to explore all its hidden corners, on the streets as well as the famous places.