Young researcher Vanessa Ozawa has an impressive background relating to education in central Asia.

After working at the National Center for Biotechnology for several years, Madina Sarsenova continues her career in science

After 12-years of work experience in policy development, Anara decided to do PhD at NU to pursue her dream of working in academia and Her doctoral research focused on extractive companies' corporate social responsibility(SCR) in developing countries.

Elvira Abzhanova is NUSOM graduate with a Doctor of Medicine degree. In her doctoral dissertation, she studied the process of metastasis in different cancer types under the supervision of Dr. Eugene Tulchinsky.

31-year-old Zhanar Ashikbayeva graduated from the NU GSPP. In her doctoral dissertation, she explores the problem of self-selection and management efficiency. In her opinion, morality in the public sector affects what kind of people come to work there.

His dissertation is devoted to researching practices that promote the inclusion of adult students with disabilities in Kazakhstan's professional and technical education system. Within his doctoral program, Arman Asanbayev received a research internship in Cambridge, USA. He studied the American experience of training people with special needs for in-demand professions in the labor market. Arman has a passion for history and philosophy.

Furkhat Khamitov has a unique experience combining programming skills and engineering knowledge in the oil and gas industry. He graduated with two master's degrees: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University with a degree in Computer Science and the University of Lorraine in France with a degree in Petroleum engineering. At Nazarbayev University, Furkhat Khamitov conducts research on the sand removal process in oil and gas fields using machine-learning technologies.

Our next NU Step to PhD rubric guest is Zhanibek Arynov, Postdoctoral Scholar at the NU Graduate School of Public Policy. Zhanibek obtained a Ph.D. degree in International Relations from the University of St. Andrews, in the UK. His research interests include Central Asian geopolitics, Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, EU-Central Asia relations, and international identity, image, and perception studies. Zhanibek joined the Graduate School of Public Policy in July 2019.

Our next NU step to PhD guest is Azza Hashim Abbas, a postdoctoral scholar at NU SMG. Azza graduated with a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from the School of Chemical and Energy – University of Technology Malaysia in 2018 and received an MSc in Reservoir Engineering from Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST) in 2012. Prior to that, Azza did her Bachelor’s in Petroleum Engineering from the Petroleum and natural gas engineering college at SUST in 2009. Аfter graduation, Dr. Azza Hashim also spent 8 years as a practitioner working in industrial companies prior to joining academia. Her research interests are reservoir modeling and optimization, resources optimization and green chemicals.

Our next NU Step to PhD guest is Marzhan Baigaliyeva, a PostDoctoral scholar at NU SMG. Marzhan received her master’s degree from University College Dublin in 2013, and graduated from The University of Nottingham with a PhD in Geographical Information Science in 2021. Marzhan is an awardee of the “Bolashak” International Scholarship and “Talap” scholarship provided by the Nazarbayev University. During her PhD study, she focused on the development of water balance for one of the lakes located in Burabay National Nature Park. She is currently teaching and sharing her knowledge with NU SMG students.