Gulfiya Kuchumova holds a Master’s degree in English Linguistics and a PhD in Education. She served as Principal Investigator of the project Research Capacity Development in Teacher Education in Kazakhstan, funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and has contributed to several collaborative research projects in higher education. Her research interests include higher education, research capacity development, and the application of discourse and corpus analysis to educational research.

Research Interests

Throughout her teaching career, she has taught the following subjects at undergraduate and graduate levels: German (various levels), English (various levels), History of Language, Lexicology, Grammar Awareness, Phonetics and Phonology, Introduction to Linguistics, Text Linguistics, Fundamentals of Language Theory, Language Awareness, and others.

Top 3 Publications

Professional development began at Karaganda State University named after E.A. Buketov under the supervision of Professor S.M. Zhakupov. Developed the Personal Qualities Assessment methodology for evaluating civil servants of Corps “A” and “B” in collaboration with JSC National Center for Civil Service Personnel Management. The methodology is currently used as a personnel selection tool.

Author of the Talent Management programme (izakova.kz), applied in preschool, school and higher education. Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Psychological Sciences. Recipient of the Akhmet Baitursynov Medal (2021), the Teacher-Researcher Badge (2016), and honorary certificates from the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Author of more than 100 academic articles and 3 textbooks.

Research Interests

Associate Professor at Astana IT University, Associate Professor at MNU, Business Trainer at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Business Trainer at the Academy of Justice under the Supreme Judicial Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan. National Consultant on Mental Health Evaluation for the project “Formative Evaluation of Mental Health Reforms, Programmes and Initiatives Promoting Effective Multisectoral System Collaboration in Kazakhstan (2018–2025)”. Scientific Consultant and UNICEF Representative in the national project on updating the compendium of psychodiagnostic methods and compiling the final list of methods for inclusion in the automated psychodiagnostic platform.

Research Interests

I am a Senior Lecturer at the School of Liberal Arts, Maqsut Narikbayev University (Astana), where I teach English to undergraduate and postgraduate students. My academic experience includes teaching General and Business English, as well as professionally oriented English to students specialising in Law, including the International Legal English course. My work involves developing and updating curricula and syllabi, designing assessment tasks, providing academic advising, and supporting student research. I have experience supervising student research projects and preparing students for academic presentations and conferences. I also contribute to the development of teaching materials and the delivery of professional training for teachers. I serve as Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal Liberal Arts Digest and actively contribute to research and editorial activities, international academic conferences, and projects in the fields of higher education, language education, and academic development.

Research Interests

Since 2003, I have been working in the field of higher education, gaining extensive professional experience at leading universities in Kazakhstan and abroad, including Uzbekistan. I have progressed professionally from a university lecturer to an Associate Professor. Since 2016, I have actively collaborated with leading international scholars from Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and the United States. As part of this international research collaboration, more than 20 international projects have been implemented, and over 50 research papers in the field of Psychology have been published in leading international peer-reviewed journals indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Throughout my professional career, I have trained and supervised more than 10 master’s students. From 2023 to 2025, I led the grant-funded research project entitled “Socio-Psychological Characteristics of the Host Society’s Perception of External and Internal Migrants in the Republic of Kazakhstan” (IRN AP19679651).

Research Interests

Ainur Bayekeyeva is a Senior Teaching Professor at the School of Liberal Arts, Maqsut Narikbayev University. She has more than 25 years of academic and professional experience, including over 15 years in higher education. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in translation theory and practice, terminology, and computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, and supervises master’s research and professional internships. Her academic and professional work focuses on Kazakh-English multimodal translation, multilingual terminological resources and thesauri, and the integration of translation technologies into teaching and research. She serves as a member of the Expert Commission at the Til-Qazyna National Scientific and Practical Centre and contributes to the working groups of the National Corpus of the Kazakh Language and the Terminology Committee. Her research interests lie at the intersection of translation studies, specialized terminology, corpus and digital linguistics, multimodality, and CAT technologies.

Research Interests

His professional experience includes service in the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan from 1992 to 2021, serving as Chairman of the Board of the NGO Professional Psychological League of the Republic of Kazakhstan since 2021, and working as a Professor at MNU since 2023.

Research Interests

Alina Kamalova is a sociolinguist and scholar specialising in Russian and Eurasian Studies. She holds a PhD in Sociolinguistics and Russian Studies from the University of Edinburgh (2023) and graduated with distinction from Moscow State University with MA and BA degrees. Her academic experience includes positions as Lecturer in Russian and Eurasian Studies at Queen Mary University of London (2025–2026) and Senior Lecturer in Sociolinguistics at Suleyman Demirel University (2023–2025), as well as teaching positions at the University of Edinburgh, Nazarbayev University, and Moscow State University. She has taught sociolinguistics, discourse and communication, research methods, Russian culture, visual cultures, identity, digital audiences, and contemporary post-Soviet documentary, and has supervised Master’s and PhD research. Her professional research experience includes working as a Research Assistant on the Cultural Analytics project at the University of Edinburgh and leading a research project funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2026–2028).

Research Interests

Akmaral Karabay is a Teaching Professor at Maqsut Narikbayev University, an Assistant Professor at Astana IT University, and a Researcher at CARCEIT, Nazarbayev University. Previously, she served as a Senior Manager at the Research Department of AEO “Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools” and held postdoctoral and research assistant positions at Nazarbayev University. Her professional experience includes teaching academic writing, political science, and linguistics, curriculum development, and management and research in higher education and language policy.

Research Interests

Dina Kucherbayeva is a sociolinguist with a PhD from The Education University of Hong Kong and an MSc in Applied Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh. She has over ten years of teaching experience at KIMEP University, where she served as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Assistant Professor. Her teaching and research focus on language and society and multilingualism, with a particular focus on Kazakhstan and Central Asia. She is a recipient of the Bolashaq Scholarship and the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship, and an alumna of the Erasmus+ Staff Mobility Programme at Uppsala University, Sweden. She has contributed to international academic and public forums as a panellist at the Times Higher Education World Summit in Saudi Arabia and as a speaker at a flagship internationalisation event in Hong Kong and TEDxAstana.

Research Interests

Laura Ibrayeva has over 20 years of teaching experience in higher education institutions. She began her academic career teaching a range of English language-related subjects, including General and Business English, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), IELTS, Academic English, and English Literature. She holds a PhD in Education from Nazarbayev University and an MA in Foreign Philology (Linguistics) from Ablai Khan Kazakh University of International Relations and World Languages. Following her PhD, she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at CARCEIT, Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, from 2023 to 2026, conducting research on the well-being and mental health of children and university students and creativity in education. She has since returned to teaching at Maqsut Narikbayev University, where she teaches research methods in the social sciences and linguistics. She also has extensive experience delivering workshops and professional development on qualitative research methods, systematic literature reviews, and bibliometric analysis.

Research Interests

Dinara Ramazanovna holds a PhD in Education from Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan, with part of her doctoral studies completed at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. She conducted postdoctoral research on migration and education at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia. Since 2022, she has been an Associate Professor at the School of Liberal Arts, Maqsut Narikbayev University. From 2023 to 2025, she contributed to the project Research Capacity Development in Teacher Education in Kazakhstan, funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2023, she also received a grant from the Central Asian Research Centre for Educational Innovation and Transformation at Nazarbayev University for the project Academic Promotion and Remuneration Policies at Private Higher Education Institutions in Kazakhstan. She currently serves as a peer reviewer for Quality Assurance in Education (Emerald) and Studies in Higher Education (Taylor & Francis).

Research Interests

Since 09.2024- to the present
Teaching Professor at the School of Liberal Arts, Maqsut Narikbayev University
Associate professor of Translation Studies Department, Faculty of Philology, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University

09.2013-07.2014
Senior lecturer, Foreign Philology Department, Faculty of Philology, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University

09.2014-07.2017
Senior Lecturer, Foreign Languages Department, Faculty of Philology, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University

09.2020 – 07.2023
Associate professor, Foreign Philology Department, Faculty of Philology, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University

09.2007 – 07.2013
Senior Lecturer, Foreign Philology Department, Pavlodar State University, Pavlodar

07.2005 – 09.2007
Research fellow, Centre of Sociological research, Pavlodar State University, Pavlodar

Research Interests

Has extensive professional experience in psychotherapy and psychological counselling, including work in crisis situations and with refugees and internally displaced persons. From 2003 to 2022, served as Head of the Department of Ethnopsychology and Psychological Issues in Multicultural Education at Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, teaching at all levels from undergraduate programmes to continuing professional education. Author of over 100 scholarly publications, including around 40 research articles in international journals indexed in Web of Science, including first-quartile journals. Led applied research and scientific-methodological projects in migration psychology, cross-cultural and political psychology, and psychological well-being. Developed continuing education programmes on working with migrants, intercultural competence and the prevention of xenophobia, and organised methodological support for school teachers working with migrant children.

Research Interests

She has experience in higher education, English language teaching, and research. She is currently a PhD candidate in Education at Nazarbayev University and holds two master’s degrees in Educational Leadership and Foreign Philology. She has over 10 years of teaching experience at Toraighyrov University and Maqsut Narikbayev University. Her professional experience includes academic management, quality assurance, and research. She has participated in projects focused on university–industry partnerships and research capacity development in teacher education. She has published in national and international academic journals and has experience presenting research findings at academic conferences.

Research Interests

Yelena Yemelyanova has more than 20 years of experience in higher education teaching, programme coordination, and academic management across universities in Kazakhstan. At Maqsut Narikbayev University, she serves as a Senior Teacher and contributes to curriculum development, academic policy, quality assurance, and institutional governance of research and academic ethics. She previously coordinated academic processes and the Foundation block, developed English-language courses and admission and placement tests, and taught General English, EAP, and ESP for economics, tourism, and psychology programmes. Before joining MNU, she headed the Department of Multilingual Education at S. Seifullin Kazakh Agro Technical University and taught pedagogy and psychology, translation, and English. She also has international project experience through the European Union’s Central Asian Educational Platform.

Research Interests