Kristina Belobabova, a student at the Institute of Applied Arts at Ƶ, passed the competitive selection among participants in the ‘I Am a Professional’ Olympiad and represented the university at the Educational Socio-Humanitarian Forum in St. Petersburg. The career events brought together 75 of the strongest students from all over Russia.

Kristina Belobabova is studying to become a decorative and applied arts artist and is a resident of the Public Workshops, where she conducts master classes and implements her own project, ‘Traditional and Folklore Motifs in Contemporary Ceramics.’ The Ƶ student already has experience working in her field in ceramic production. Now she wants to try her hand at jewellery making and mosaics.



‘The forum's expert commission selected participants based on their video profiles. In my video, I said that as an artist of decorative and applied arts, I want to not just create, but to create works in the context of history, cultural studies, literature, folklore, and so on. At the forum, I was assigned to a programme where we studied Russian history and culture, and I also attended several lectures on literary studies,’ says Kristina Belobabova.
The forum included lectures, round tables, career games and quizzes, and practical master classes with a competitive focus. The Ƶ student attended a discussion of career expectations and aspirations with the director of the Association of Organisers of Student Olympiads ‘I Am a Professional’ Valeria Kasamara, and a master class by Kirill Dorozhkin, advisor to the President of the National Artificial Intelligence Fund (NAIF), on the use of artificial intelligence in the humanities. Kristina also attended lectures on sculpture, the connection between art and text, and Belarusian culture, and took part in a master class on the development of creative tourism projects, where she reached the semi-finals and won a prize in a career game from the Olympiad Ambassadors.
Excursions to the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg, and the Museum of Architectural Ceramics were organised for the forum participants.

