Clinic of Applied Political Science

The Clinic of Applied Political Science is a project implemented by the Faculty of Political Science at St Petersburg University that enables students to apply theoretical knowledge to tackle specific real-world problems.

Our mission

To equip political science students with sought-after skills and clear career paths and foster their professional growth through collaborative partnerships and design analysis, while meeting the needs of real-life clients.

The St Petersburg University Clinic of Applied Political Science is a unique educational environment where everyone can dive into real-world political projects without fear of making mistakes; team up with fellow students and get their support; choose a specialisation; and uncover new professional development opportunities. This will boost your employability and open doors to new career opportunities.

Key focus areas

Research

Executing individual and collaborative applied research projects tailored to client needs

Event management

Offering campaign management and consulting services for political campaigns and public events of all levels, including government relations consulting

Education

Delivering educational projects, such as online popular science lectures and podcasts on political science

Career guidance

Inspiring career path choices through professional interactions between graduates and current students

The Clinic caters for students and teachers of six bachelor’s and master’s programmes.

Bachelor’s programmes

  • Political Science

Master’s programmes

  • Applied Political Science and Ethnopolitical Processes in the Contemporary World 
  • Organisation of Government Relations 
  • Public Policy in Modern Russia 
  • Global Politics 
  • Politics and Modern Information Technology

Apart from political science students, the Clinic’s projects are open to St Petersburg University students of other fields of study, as well as to students from other universities.

77

students are actively engaged in the Clinic’s projects.

Our clients include: 

  • Executive authorities of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region 
  • Legislative Assemblies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation within the Northwestern Federal District, local governments and municipal councils 
  • Regional branches of public organisations and political parties
  • Non-profit organisations 
  • Information and analytical departments and services of businesses 
  • Corporate government relations departments
Implemented projects
  1. Initiative research "Political attitudes of St Petersburg students" (2 waves) 
  2. Delivering lessons in schools within the framework of the All-Russian educational campaign "Share Your Knowledge", initiated by the Russian Society "Znanie"
Commissioned by: Municipal Council of the intra-city municipal entity of the federal city of St Petersburg 
  1. Survey among students "Youth in public policy: municipal level" aimed at gathering insights on students’ career expectations, perceptions of young municipal employees, and youth engagement in local issues, etc
  2. A study of the deputy corps of the St Petersburg Legislative Assembly, 6th and 7th convocations. The project employed network analysis to evaluate the transition of municipal officials to legislative deputies 
  3. The study "Digital assistants in the service of public authorities and local governments" 
Commissioned by: Deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Leningrad Region 
  1. The study "Political attitudes of the Leningrad Region residents"
  2. Developing content for an educational and entertaining YouTube channel 
  3. Preparing materials from expert interviews for a panel at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum 
Commissioned by: Member of the State Duma 
  1. A study of virtual urban communities in a Russian city: assessment of community engagement; activity; and mobilisation and protest potentials

Commissioned by: Non-profit organisation 

  1. Developing a communication strategy to inform executive authorities and the public about the value of QR codes for gathering feedback on client projects
  2. Developing a project proposal for the Presidential Grants Foundation contest 
  3. The study "Impact of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis on personal and professional fulfilment", along with developing social and labour policy recommendations 
  4. Developing a content plan for the client’s Telegram channel, crafting a chatbot script for the client’s projects
Commissioned by: Consulting company 
  1. The study "Political elite of Russia"

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