Peter Hommel is a Lecturer in Archaeomaterials at the University of Liverpool. He has been working on Siberian archaeology since 2006. Between 2011–2020, Dr. Hommel was employed at the University of Oxford, working on projects involving ceramics and metals, Iron Age art, 'nomadic' settlement landscapes and human-animal relationships.

Paper: "Hearth and Home: Promoting the Identification, Investigation and Protection of Prehistoric Settlement Landscapes in Southern Siberia"

Abstract: Over the last decade, field research in the Altai Mountains and Kazakhstan has shifted the focus of research away from ostentatious burials and onto the evidence from settlements, revealing new details of the organisation of socio-economic life in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. In 2018, as part of this rising wave of interest in local pastoralist landscapes, we began a pilot programme of survey, using remote sensing techniques, field survey and targeted excavation to identify a series of prehistoric settlements in the Saksar Mountains of Khakassia and along the floodplain of the Yenisei. This British Academy funded project, the results of which will be outlined in this presentation, not only reiterated the rich potential of settlements, to open windows onto the pattern of everyday life in Early Iron Age communities, but also revealed some potential threats to the integrity of these largely undocumented sites.

Gavin Slade is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Nazarbayev University. He completed a PhD in criminology from the University of Oxford and has previously held positions at the University of Toronto, Freie Universitat, Berlin and the University of Glasgow. He works on questions of criminal justice reform in the former Soviet Union with a focus on prisons, policing and organized crime. His most recently completed project, funded by the German Research Foundation and the European Commission, involved a comparative case study of how penal reform produces violence and contention in post-Soviet prison systems, comparing Georgia, Moldova, Lithuania and Kyrgyzstan. Slade is a Principal Investigator on a new project running from 2018-2021, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council in the UK, and entitled 'In the Gulag's Shadow: Producing, Consuming and Perceiving Prisons in the Former Soviet Union.' The project applies criminological theory to show how the practice of incarceration is being reconstituted by social, economic, cultural and political processes in Russia and Kazakhstan. Slade has also done work for the Council of Europe, Open Society Foundation as well as the European Union's project 'Enhancing Criminal Justice in Kazakhstan.'

Paper: "In the Gulag's Shadow: Places and Practices of Remembering and Forgetting Penal Trauma in Kazakhstan"

Abstract: This talk will give an overview of the In the Gulag's Shadow project, a cross-national study of local perceptions of prisons and prisoners in Gulag and non-Gulag sites across Kazakhstan and Russia. Case studies in the project include prison museums, often carefully managed on the national level, and other sites, including working prisons, where punishment today remains an economic resource as well as both an object of remembrance and cultural and historical consumption. Preliminary findings suggest that while prison museum sites often conceal present day continuities with the past, communities in working prison sites wish to highlight those continuities and to preserve the place of prison in the local economy.

Dr Guillaume Tiberghien completed a PhD degree in Tourism from Auckland University of Technology and holds a Master degree in International Relations from University Paris-Est Marne la Vallée and a Bachelor in Business Administration from Kedge Business School in France. He has over 15 years of experience in researching Tourism-related subjects and teaching Bachelor and Master Degree Programmes in Tourism Management and Marketing in an international context.

Guillaume is the programme leader in Dumfries of the triple accreditated Master degree in 'Management and Sustainable Tourism' with the Adam Smith Business School. He was an associate programme leader for the launch and development of an undergraduate Tourism and Hospitality programme at KIMEP University in Kazakhstan between 2008-2012.

His main teaching and research activities focus on the relationships between Cultural Heritage Tourism, Sustainable Tourism Development and Tourism Marketing. Guillaume also conducted and participated in several consulting projects in the fields of Tourism Marketing and Management in Central Asia, New Zealand and the UK.
Paper: "Kazakhstani Heritage and Politics of Authenticity in Tourism: Opportunities and Challenges"

Abstract: Although the number of inbound tourists remains relatively small, Kazakhstan possesses numerous tourism heritage sites based on its past Soviet times, nomadic culture and a variety of unique cultural landscapes. Whereas the tourism industry tends to provide its own definitions of the 'authentic', traditional or typical, it is therefore important to understand how Kazakhstani heritage tourism attractions and destinations are constructed and marketed by the private and public sectors; particularly how the tourism industry in Kazakhstan defines and presents its version of the genuinely local in both cultural and sustainable aspects of tourism experience.

The various ways the Kazakhstani Government wishes to frame heritage for tourism purposes raise important questions for the future development of tourism in the country. For example, what aspects of the remnants of the former nomadic culture can be commercialised and adapted for tourism? How is the Soviet Gulag heritage being commodified and interpreted for tourism in museums? What are the opportunities and challenges for developing heritage tourism from a multi-stakeholder perspective?
This presentation will offer some directions in which to comprehend the role authenticity plays in the tourism practices of heritage sites. It will first delve into the case of the commercialisation of nomadic culture for eco-cultural tourism development. Questions of ownership of historical narratives, conservation, economic and educational priorities will then be discussed in the context of Gulag heritage as portrayed and interpreted in museums for local and international visitation.

Paula N. Doumani Dupuy is an Assistant Professor at Nazarbayev University in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She received her PhD in Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis (United States of America). Since 2009, she has led archaeological projects in central Eurasia as a material specialist, and field archaeologist. Her research interests include the materiality of pastoralism, community-based interactions and mobility underlying craft production, and the transfer of technologies/materials during the Bronze Age. These topics underpin the research goals of excavations she is currently leading at Prehistoric multi-complex archaeological sites in eastern Kazakhstan's steppe and mountain regions. She is Director of the Trans-Eurasian Exchanges: Contemporary Dialogues and Archaeological Inquiry Project (TEECA) and Co-director of the Dzhungar Mountains Archaeology Project (DMAP) in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Paper: "Trans-Eurasian Exchanges: A Look from Inside Kazakhstan"

Abstract: Eastern Kazakhstan has long sat at the intersection of two distinct trans-regional interaction spheres: the Eurasian Steppe and the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor. Despite their importance during the Bronze Age, the relationship between these two distinct social-geographic realms has not been extensively studied. Toward this end, two international research teams led by the author are involved in archaeological excavations in steppe and mountain sites in east Kazakhstan. Material recovered shows a range of "exotic" materials were implicated in diverse systems of social power and conformity across Kazakhstan's key highways that linked Asia and Europe from 5000 years ago. The work emerges at a crucial moment as archaeology has become a renewed focus of attention in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, which will have a marked impact on the preservation and portrayal of archaeological heritage.

Lina Liu is an Associate Professor at Xi 'an Jiaotong University. Her research interests include cultural heritage law, international law, and intellectual property law. She has hosted over 8 funded projects concerning cultural heritage and intellectual property. Three of her research reports were adopted by the Chinese Administration of Cultural Relics; two of her English-language articles were reprinted by UNESCO. Her monograph, Legal Protection of China's Underwater Cultural Heritage was awarded the "top 10 books of national cultural heritage in 2015". She has participated in more than 20 international academic conferences on cultural industries in the United States, France, Singapore, Japan, Russia, etc. She is currently a Council Member of China's Science and Technology Law Society, Deputy Secretary-General of Science and Technology Law Association in Shaanxi Provincial Law Society, and Secretary-General of Intellectual Property Research Association in Xi ' An Law Society.

Paper: The Harmonization of Urban Development and Protection of Cultural Heritage from the Perspective of China

Abstract: When cultural heritage is seen as the proof of human civilization, the cultural heritage on the Silk Road is the identification of the communication of the East and West civilizations. Several paths across Europe and Asia, and goods and cultural exchanges along Silk Road from Xi'an (Chang'an), China to Europeans. This presentation takes Chinese cultural heritage as the object of study and consider the harmonization of urban development and protection of cultural heritage.

The lecture firstly lays out how China protects its different kinds of cultural heritage, such as temples, historical blocks or city, or industrial heritage with the development of urbanization. Secondly, it will discuss the effective protection and utilization of the movable cultural relics which are in the museum, by analyzing three significant museums and utilization of the Chinese Forbidden City, the Metropolitan Museum of America and National Museum of Kazakhstan. Lastly, the lecture tries to analyze the barrier effect of law on the Protection of cultural heritage from the angle of law, and how to better protect the cultural heritage which symbolizes human material and spiritual civilization.

Nikolay Tsyrempilov is an Associate Professor at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. His research is mainly focused on the history of Buddhist communities in Russia, Mongolia and Tibet. He is especially concerned with the issues of how Tibetan Buddhist religious institutes formed up and the ways the states influenced this process. In addition, Nikolay is an explorer of Mongolian and Tibetan written heritage having compiled a series of catalogs and published a few samples. From recent time his research interests include the history of the Oirats and the Dzunghar Khanate, sacred geography of Kazakhstan. He is the PI of the interdisciplinary project aimed at creation of the electronic atlas of Kazakhstan's sacred sites.

Paper: "Visualizing Sacred Geography of Kazakhstan: Overview of an Interdisciplinary
Project Based at NU"

Abstract: In 2016 the then President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev initiated the governmental program of exploration and codification of sacred sites of Kazakhstan. This gave impetus to a number of research projects aimed at compilation of registers and maps of religious and sacred sites across the country. In 2018, a team of NU religionists launched the research project the main outcome of which is the electronic map of Kazakhstan's sacred sites. Using various reference books and catalogs, the team created the most complete map of Kazakhstan's sacred sites (1,500 sites). The map accurately demonstrates the diversity of Kazakhstan's religious landscape, both contemporary and historical and allows volunteers to contribute to the atlas by providing information about the site in their locality. The presentation will show the stages of the project and demonstrate the functionality of the atlas.

Касеналин Айбар Ерланович, Археолог, Окончил Казахский национальный университет имени аль-Фараби в 2014 г. (PhD). Специалист по изучению памятников истории и археологии Центрального Казахстана эпохи бронзы, раннего железного века и средневековья. Принимает участие в полевых исследованиях с 2005 года. Проводил исследования в таких памятниках, как: могильник Бегазы, Сарыколь, Бегазы-3Б, Кызылшилик, Болган ана и др., а также на поселениях Каратал-2, Тагыбайбулак, Едирей и др. Помимо археологических исследований проводит работы по консервации и реставрации объектов историко-культурного наследия.

В разные года работал в Институте археологии имени А.Х. Маргулана, Национальном музее РК, преподавал в Казахском национальном университете имени аль-Фараби, Евразийском национальном университете имени Л.Н. Гумилева.
Автор и соавтор монографии, Сводов памятников истории и культуры Акмолинской области, методического пособия по историко-культурному наследию, свыше 20 научных статей, опубликованных в республиканских и международных изданиях.
А.Е. Касеналин является автором первого казахстанского телевизионного реалити-шоу программы для детей «Жұмбақ жер» республиканского телеканала Balapan, с целью популяризации археологического наследия Казахстана среди подрастающего поколения.

В настоящее время кроме научной деятельности занимается созданием веб-платформы по археологии Казахстана «ARCHAEOLOGY.KZ», который предназначен для систематизации всех имеющихся данных (объекты, литература, экспедиции, энциклопедия и т.д.) по археологии Казахстана, в том числе по созданию единой базы данных памятников истории и культуры с интерактивным доступом.

Paper: "Creating a Website Dedicated to Archaeology in Kazakhstan:
https://archaeology.kz (in Russian)

Наталья Воякина: специалист по гражданскому праву (Казахский государственный юридический университет), экономист (Московская академия труда и социальных отношений). Научный сотрудник, юрист-консультант по вопросам изучения и сохранения объектов историко-культурного наследия отдела документации и археологической консервации Института археологии им. А.Х. Маргулана МОН РК (с 2002). Национальный эксперт Республики Казахстан в Исполнительный комитет по Всемирному Наследию стран СНГ (2010-2011). Автор проекта Закона РК «Об археологическом наследии». Разработчик положения «Об охране и использовании объектов всемирного наследия РК». Член рабочей парламентской группы по обсуждению проектов законов Республики Казахстан «Об охране и использовании объектов историко-культурного наследия» и «О внесении изменений и дополнений в некоторые законодательные акты Республики Казахстан по вопросам историко-культурного наследия». Участник различных археологических экспедиций. Автор научных статей по правовым механизмам сохранения историко-культурных объектов и формам защиты национальных интересов на международной арене в сфере культурного наследия.

Paper: "Heritage Management in Kazakhstan – Ratification and Implementation of the Convention, 1972" (in Russian)

Abstract: В 1972 году на Генеральной конференции ЮНЕСКО была принята Конвенция о защите всемирного культурного и природного наследия, которая вступила в силу в декабре 1975 года. В 1994 г. Казахстан стал стороной Конвенции и взял на себя обязательства по исполнению её положений. Эти обязательства затрагивают не только внешнеполитические отношения Республики Казахстан с субъектами международного права (государствами, международными организациями), но и внутренние государственные процессы в сфере охраны, использования объектов культурного и природного наследия.

С момента ратификации Конвенции Республикой Казахстан велась активная работа на международном уровне. Казахстан в течение четырёх лет принимал участие в работе Комитета всемирного наследия, работая над подготовкой и продвижением номинаций от Республики, а также участвуя в работе экспертных групп по оценке и охране объектов всемирного наследия. Сегодня в список Всемирного наследия ЮНЕСКО включены 5 Казахстанских объектов, среди которых Чанъань-Тянь-Шанский коридор Великого Шёлкового пути, вошедший в Список в 2014 г., насчитывающий 8 казахстанских памятников.

Выполнение международных обязательств - одна из важнейших задач государства на международной арене, успешное выполнение которой напрямую зависит от своевременного создания в государстве внутренних правовых механизмов для реализации международных правовых норм. Такой процесс называется имплементацией (от англ. Implementation — осуществлять). Большой юридический словарь даёт следующее определение имплементации: «фактическое осуществление международных обязательств на внутригосударственном уровне путем трансформации международно-правовых норм в национальные законы и подзаконные акты» (c. 199). Различные способы имплементации международных норм можно увидеть на примере Закона РК «Об охране и использовании объектов историко-культурного наследия» от 26 декабря 2019 года.

Valeriy Tolmachev, born in 1963, has a degree in journalism from Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia) and is an ENA (France) graduate with a public administration diploma ("Marc Bloch" promotion). From 2002 to 2011 he was in charge of cultural, scientific, education and communication issues at the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to UNESCO. From 2014 to 2019 – Vice-president at the non-profit «Culture» Foundation (Kazakhstan).

He is currently the Deputy Director for Sciences and External Relations at the International Centre for the Rapprochement of Cultures in Almaty, under the auspices of UNESCO.

Paper: "Current problems of the enhancement of the heritage of the Great Silk Road in Kazakhstan and the UNESCO Silk Roads Program"

Abstract: The Great Silk Road was the bloodstream of trade and cultural exchanges, which we regard as an allegory for the rapprochement of cultures. The Silk Roads are an excellent example of tolerant relationships between the world's religions and cultures. And we have to use it in order to enhance, particularly within the framework of the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures (2013-2022), an intercultural dialogue and religious tolerance, as well as educate younger generations on the shared history and heritage of the Silk Roads.

In line with the policy of promoting intercultural dialogue, UNESCO has developed the Silk Roads Program and is carrying out a number of useful actions within its framework. This work is complemented by the Network of National Coordinators, which was established under this Program.

All stakeholders support the idea of reviving the Great Silk Road, preserving and enhancing the cultural heritage located on it. However, there are shortcomings in the coordination of these efforts, which hinders the achievement of this goal. To solve this problem, it is necessary to focus on educational work, on the development of cultures.

Binqing Zhai, professor, head of the Department of Architecture, and director of the Institute of Architecture at Xi 'an Jiaotong University. He is the member of the Architectural Education Branch of Architectural Society of China, the member of Academic Degree Evaluation Committee of the School of Human Settlements and Environmental Science in Xi'an Jiaotong University. He has presided over dozens of research projects, and published 2 monographs and more than 40 academic papers. His research interests include the protection and renovation of historic areas, the renovation and revitalization of traditional villages, and the rehabilitation and reuse of industrial heritage sites.

Paper: "Conservation of Han Chang'an Capital Heritage Site and the Impact to Local Indigenous Lives"

Abstract: In recent years, heritage parks have been regarded as the best ways to give full play to the comprehensive values of the Great Heritage Sites in Chinese historic cities. While many people focus on exploring how to better exhibit the rich values of the heritage sites by means of heritage parks, what functions the indigenous lives and local stories can play in the conservation of heritage sites attracts little attention. Based on the case of Xi'an city, this paper examines the valuable elements among the local villagers as well as the potential hazards that heritage parks might bring to the heritage site.

Andrey Y. Filchenko is the Chair of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature at the School of Sciences and Humanities. He obtained the Candidate of Science in 2002 in Russia, the Master of Arts degree in 2004, and the Doctorate in Linguistics in 2007 at Rice University. Before coming to Nazarbayev University, Andrey was an associate professor, a senior research fellow, and a research department coordinator at a university in Russia; held research fellow and visiting professor positions in universities in the EU, Japan Hamburg and the US. His research is in Anthropological Linguistics, Field Methods & Language Documentation, Linguistic Typology, Cognitive Linguistics and focuses on evolution, areal contact, local variation, and change of languages/cultures of indigenous people of Northern Eurasia in the areal context of Eurasia.

Paper: "Contemporary Practices of Language Documentation as Cultural Heritage
Preservation"

Abstract: Based on various estimates, between 50% and 80% of the world's linguistic diversity will disappear during the 21st century, meaning that out of estimated 6500 languages over 3500 will cease to be spoken in various parts of the world.
While every language is to be recognized as a unique wealth of human knowledge accumulated over millennia, sadly, multiple languages in Central and Northern Eurasia are at risk. More often than not, these are languages and language varieties that are little studied and not well described, which exacerbates the problem even further.

Methodologically and technologically rigorous modern documentation of linguistic diversity of this region is exactly establishing the connection of the intangible and the tangible.
Recent and developing projects by NU LLL aim to address this problem. They offer an important empirical contribution to a number of debates pertaining to the history, evolution, variation, and change in the languages and cultures of the region. The experience of these projects is also useful in providing evidence in the discussion of the role of digital technologies in minority language/culture maintenance and revival, as well as in developing best practices for mitigating language endangerment.

While these projects naturally focus on collecting primary language and culture data in relevant communities, their important component has also been digital archiving of legacy materials associated with a range of technical, methodological, and ethical issues.
The presentation reviews three recent projects exemplifying key issues in language documentation and its impact on language endangerment and vitality.

Gil Stein is Director of the Chicago Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation and Professor of Archaeology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. From 2002 to 2017 he served as Director of the Oriental Institute. He received his BA in Archaeology from Yale University and his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. His research investigates ancient economies, the archaeology of colonialism, inter-regional interaction, the development of the earliest urbanized states in the Near East, zooarchaeology, and the preservation of cultural heritage. He has directed excavations at the Uruk period Mesopotamian trading colony of Hacınebi in Turkey (3700 BC), at the Ubaid period site of Tell Zeidan in Syria (ca 5300-3800 BC), and is currently excavating at the 6th-4th millennium BC town of Surezha in the Kurdistan region of Northeast Iraq. Since 2012 he has led the US State Department-funded partnership between the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul and the University of Chicago Oriental Institute. Partnership projects include museum outreach and education programs for high school students, training National Museum curators and conservators, restoring early Buddhist sculptures damaged by the Taliban, and conducting the first full inventory of the Museum's collections.

Paper: "Preserving Cultural Heritage Along the Silk Road: University of Chicago Projects in Central Asia and Afghanistan"

Abstract: The cultural heritage of the Silk Road countries in Central Asia and Afghanistan is at risk from four main factors: a) conflict, b) looting for the illicit antiquities market, c) population growth and urbanization, and d) rapid economic development. These risks vary from country to country, but together they are part of a global cultural heritage crisis of historically unprecedented proportions. The heritage crisis threatens the tangible heritage of objects, monuments, and sites, while also endangering the intangible heritage of traditional crafts, knowledge, music, art, literature, and languages. We need to remedy not only existing and ongoing heritage destruction, but we must also act pro-actively to preserve heritage-at-risk to preserve and protect it from future damage.

This paper presents an overview of five remedial and pro-active projects that the University of Chicago is conducting to preserve cultural heritage in Afghanistan and the five Central Asian republics. In Afghanistan, the primary risks stem from the devastation of the country by conflict and looting for the illicit antiquities trade. By contrast, in the five Central Asian republics, our projects are pro-active initiatives to train heritage professionals and build capacity to protect heritage threatened by population growth, urbanization, and rapid economic development. One of the most effective ways to preserve endangered heritage in this region is to encourage shared standards, strategies and best practices through regional scale cooperation among the nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Jeffrey H. Altschul holds B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Anthropology and has worked in cultural heritage management (CHM) since 1975. In 1983 he and his wife founded Statistical Research, Inc. (SRI) in the USA and in 2008, he co-founded Nexus Heritage in the United Kingdom. Together, the two consultancies provide CHM services around the world. In 2001, he founded the SRI Foundation which is a not-for-profit USA-based organization that advances historic preservation through education, research, and training. In 2017, Altschul established the Coalition for Archaeological Synthesis, and has served as its co-president since it was founded. He has been principal investigator on hundreds of CHM projects in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. In 2010, he formed the Mongolian International Heritage Team (MIHT) which in 2010, designed the Oyu Tolgoi Cultural Heritage Program (CHP). In 2012, the MIHT performed a sample survey and predictive model for the Northern Railways project between Murun and Erdenet. In 2015, Altschul assisted the Mongolian Academy of Sciences with evaluating the heritage tourism aspects of the multinational (China-Mongolia-Russia) Tea Road as part of its consideration for potential World Heritage listing.

Altschul has served as president of the Register of Professional Archaeologists and the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and has been appointed to numerous boards of directors of professional societies. Altschul has written hundreds of technical reports and published papers, books, and monographs in cultural heritage. Of particular note are the Oyu Tolgoi Cultural Heritage Program: Protecting the Past, Preserving the Present: Report on Phase 1 Activities of the Oyu Tolgoi Cultural Heritage Program Design for Ömnögovi Aimag. (edited with B. Gunchinsuren and John W. Olsen) and The Oyu Tolgoi Cultural Heritage Program (edited with B. Gunchinsuren and John W. Olsen).

Paper: "Building a Future without Losing the Past: The Challenge of Cultural Heritage Management"

Abstract: Cultural Heritage Management (CHM) is based on the premise that countries can balance economic development with historic preservation. CHM frameworks generally fall into two categories. Countries where cultural heritage is viewed as national patrimony often make CHM the responsibility of the state, whereas those which cede authority to local communities commonly condition development on meeting project-specific heritage objectives, a process commonly referred to as obtaining a social license. Regardless of which approach is adopted, the keys to success are providing adequate resources to ensure protection mandates, empowering local and descendant communities, strong government regulation, and independent verification. I will discuss these points through a case study: the Oyu Tolgoi cultural heritage program for Ӧmnӧgovi aimag, Mongolia.

Neil Collins is currently a Professor of political science at
Nazarbayev University (NU), Kazakhstan. Dr Collins has held academic posts at the Universities of Liverpool, Birmingham and Ulster. Before moving to Kazakhstan, he was Professor and Head of the Department of Government and Politics at the University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland. Neil Collins has a PhD in political sciences from the Trinity College Dublin. His research interests include political marketing, regulation and governance, corruption, politics of China and the EU. Neil Collins is the official representative of NU in the European Consortium for Political Research, a member of the National Research Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan and NU IREC. The EU Horizon 2020 programme funded his most recent project which examined the role of cultural diplomacy in Central Asia.

Aziz Burkhanov is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public Policy at Nazarbayev University in Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan. His research interests include nationalism and identity theories, and national identity politics, policies, and practices, with a special focus on identity issues and their perceptions in the public narratives in the former Soviet area. He has worked in policy analysis and consulting as a Research Fellow at the IWEP, a think-tank advising the Kazakhstan government on policies, and as a Senior Associate at IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA). He has authored "Kazakhstan's National Identity-Building Policy: Soviet Legacy, State Efforts, and Societal Reactions," Cornell International Law Journal (2017), "The Determinants of Civic and Ethnic Nationalisms in Kazakhstan: Evidence from the Grass-Roots Level" Nationalism and Ethnic Politics (2017); and "Kazakh Perspective on China, the Chinese, and Chinese Migration," Ethnic and Racial Studies (2016); among others.

Soumyen Bandyopadhyay is the Sir James Stirling Chair in Architecture at the Liverpool School of Architecture (LSA), having previously held professorial positions at the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA) and Nottingham Trent University. He directs the Centre for the Study of Architecture and Cultural Heritage of India, Arabia and the Maghreb (ArCHIAM), an interdisciplinary forum with research projects in Oman, Qatar, Morocco and India. Bandyopadhyay has extensive experience of architectural practice in India and the Middle East and has undertaken advisory and consultancy work in urban development, regeneration, architectural and urban design, and conservation. In addition to his published works in journals he is also the author of Site and Composition (Routledge, 2016) and Manah: Omani Oasis, Arabian Legacy (Liverpool University Press, 2011), and co-editor of The Territories of Identity (Routledge, 2013), Humanities in Architectural Design (Routledge 2010) and Thinking Practice (Black Dog 2007).

Dmitriy Voyakin: Research Scientist (1997), Senior Research Scientist, Head of the department of Documentation and Archaeological Conservation at the lnstitute of Archaeology MES, Almaty, Kazakhstan (since 2005). M.A. (1999) from the Al-Faraby Kazakh State University (Honors), Ph.D. (2010) from the lnstitute of Archaeology MES RoK. General Director of the NGO "Archaeological Expertise" (since 2006). Director of the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (since 2018). Delegate to the World Heritage Committee from the Republic of Kazakhstan (2014-2017). Secretary-General of the National World Heritage Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2014-2018). Member of the National Commission of the RoK for UNESCO and ISESCO (since 2018). Member of the National Scientific Council of the RoK. Field director of the more than ten archaeological expeditions (among them permanent archaeological missions at Otrar, Kayalyk, Akyrtas, Taraz, Sygnak, Dzhan kala, Dzhankent, Dzhuvara, Christian site Ilibalyk and Investigation of archaeological sites on the dry bottom of Aral sea), several international expeditions. Published 7 books, 7 albums, over 190 scientific papers, edited several monographs, 9 volumes of Heritage Sites of Zhambyl Region. One of the author and main executor of creation the "Kone Taraz" (Ancient Taraz) archaeological park project, "Almaty 1000 years' anniversary" and "Shymkent 2200 years' anniversary" inclusion to UNESCO calendar. Silk Road Serial Transnational Nomination UNESCO international facilitator.

Peter F. Biehl is Professor of Anthropology at the University at Buffalo (UB), the State University of New York, and is currently a Fellow of the American Council on Education (ACE). He served as Department Chair as well as Associate Dean for Enrollment and International Education in the College of Arts and Sciences. He chaired the UB Provost's Task Force for Inclusion and Engagement of International Students, the Budget and Resources Committee of the General Education Program and the Campus-Wide Course Evaluations Committee. He also is the Director of the Institute for European and Mediterranean Archaeology (IEMA), the Marian E. White Anthropology Research Museum and the Critical Museum Studies MA Program (CMS) and the Chair of UB's Council on International Studies and Programs (CISP). At UB, he received the Distinguished Postdoc Mentor Award of the Graduate School and the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Internationalization. Internationally, he is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and the German Archaeological Institute, and Chair of the Oscar Montelius Foundation of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA). He received fellowships from the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, German Academic Exchange (DAAD), and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He has taught at universities in Halle, Freiburg, Cambridge and Paris, and directed excavations in Germany and Turkey. Research areas include climate change in the past and present, material culture, museums and heritage, with ten books and more than 120 articles, book chapters and exhibitions (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7502-0343).

Reed Coil is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Nazarbayev University. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota. His research interests include early human subsistence strategies and range expansion. Dr. Coil is a member of the international research team at the Paleolithic archaeological site of Dmanisi, Georgia, which is home to the earliest hominin fossils in Eurasia. His other active projects range from Neanderthal/Modern human space use and subsistence patterns in several cave sites of western Georgia, to surveys for Paleolithic hominin presence in East and South Kazakhstan, to faunal analyses of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements and burials in Kazakhstan.

Dr. Loretta O'Donnell was appointed in 2013 as the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. She also served as Interim Provost in 2016.
As the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Dr. O'Donnell coordinates with Deans to develop international quality academic systems for educational programs. She liaises with Nazarbayev University strategic partners, including Duke, National University of Singapore and University of Wisconsin-Madison to implement the academic mission of the University and to share NU experiences with local and regional universities.
Dr. O'Donnell is the co-founder and co-chair of the NU/KAZGUU Annual International Academic Integrity Conference.

She presents on Eurasian Higher Education themes at international conferences including ASEF (Asian European Foundation) Rectors' Conference; Eurasian Higher Education Leaders' Forum; Times Higher Education Asian Universities Summit, the University Alliance of the Silk Road and the NU Annual Gender Forum.

Dr. O'Donnell is the Chair of the Nazarbayev University Learning and Teaching Committee, the University Library Committee and several other university-level committees.
She has over twenty years of experience in teaching Executive MBA, postgraduate and undergraduate business students in the UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales (UNSW) located in Sydney, Australia.

As an elected faculty member of the UNSW Academic Board, and as Associate Dean Education at the UNSW Business School, she combined academic policy development and implementation with her teaching, learning and research interests.

She was Academic Director for the UNSW AGSM Graduate Certificate in Change Management and the Masters of Commerce program.
Dr. O'Donnell has won awards for her teaching and for research on human capital analysis in financial markets.

Previously, she consulted in organizational change for a large global consulting firm in Sydney and in Chicago, and in a boutique firm specializing in developing management systems to sustain change.
Her academic qualifications include PhD in Management (Macquarie Graduate School of Management); MBA (AGSM, UNSW), Graduate Diploma in Education and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) (N'cle).

Gani Nygymetov is the deputy governor of North Kazakhstan region. Before accepting this post, he worked at the UNDP headquarters in New York, Nazarbayev University, Center for International Programs JSC, Center of Strategic Initiatives LLP, and Eurasian Integration Institute LLP. He also served as the head of the Inner Policy Department of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan.