My name is Nikita Obraztsov. I am a religious studies scholar, computational social scientist, and science communicator, based in St. Petersburg.
I have been engaged with the social sciences since the age of fourteen. In 2013, I won the national stage of the All-Russian Olympiad in Social Studies, which gave me the opportunity to enrol at Kutafin Moscow State Law University without entrance exams. I graduated with distinction in 2018. But the real interest, the study of world religions, had already taken over. I read Fraser, Eliade, Boyer, took academic courses on Coursera, and eventually enrolled in the Religious Studies MA at St. Petersburg State University, again without exams, after winning the HSE Olympiad in Philosophy of Religion.
My academic supervisor was Marianna Mikhailovna Shakhnovich (1957-2025), Doctor of Philosophy, longtime head of the Department of Philosophy of Religion and Religious Studies at SPbSU, author of more than 300 scholarly works, and one of the founders of the contemporary St. Petersburg school of religious studies. My dissertation examined the Brights movement as a phenomenon of contemporary culture. I graduated with distinction in 2020.
After completing the MA, I launched the ON Religion popular science project: over 250 videos on the scientific study of religion on YouTube, including a lecture series on the history of atheism and freethought. In 2023, a video lecture on apophenia and the golden ratio myth was shortlisted for the Khrustalny Pingvinopitec award, an annual competition for the best popular science video in Russian, run by Antropogenez.ru. Since December 2022 I have been a staff lecturer and course curator at Pravoe Polusharie Introverta, and I give public lectures at the Medio Modo lecture series. In 2024, my book World Religions: How to Decode the Sacred Side of Humanity was published by Bombora/EKSMO.
In 2025, I decided to pursue an academic career and enrolled in the Computational Sociology MA at the European University at St. Petersburg. I am interested in applying computational methods, machine learning, social network analysis, agent-based modelling, to the study of religion, a combination I believe remains underexplored. My current project is an agent-based model of religious communities on stochastic block model graphs. After completing the MA, I plan to pursue a PhD in Computational Social Science.
Outside of work: I play chess (ELO 1950), and I run. Two marathons, six half-marathons, one Backyard Ultra. I ran the Road of Life Marathon at -16°C in under four hours, and that one I am particularly proud of. Personal bests: 10 km — 47:05, 30 km — 2:29:26. Currently training for HYROX and the Comrades Marathon. My favourite band is King Crimson, my favourite writer is Thomas Mann, and I have a deep appreciation for the poetry of T. S. Eliot.
Research Interests
- Sociology of religion and secularization theory
- Agent-based modelling of social processes
- Social network analysis and network topology
- History of atheism and freethought
- Religion and popular culture
- Orthodox Christianity: theology, liturgics, folk tradition
Education
- MA student, Computational Social Sciences — European University at St. Petersburg (exp. 2027)
- MA in Religious Studies (with distinction, 2020) — St. Petersburg State University. MA thesis →
My MA diploma is Here →
- BA in Law (with distinction, 2018) — Kutafin Moscow State Law University
BA diploma can be found Here →
Selected Achievements
- Triple prize-winner, IV All-Russian Student Olympiad “Sociologist of the 21st Century” (2026): 3rd place individual ranking; Best Video Essay; Best VCIOM Analytics Report (source). Diploma is Here →
- Shortlisted for the Crystal Penguinopithecus Award (2023) for best popular science video of the year.
- First-degree diploma, HSE Olympiad for Students and Graduates in Philosophy (track: Philosophy and History of Religion), 84/100 (2018). Certificate →
- Winner, All-Russian Olympiad in Social Studies, national level (2013). Diploma is here →