PolyU-KazNU Center successfully summed up the results of the year
PolyU-KazNU Center for Sustainable Development in Central Asia has completed the reporting period 2024-2025 and strengthened the status of an international scientific and educational platform consolidating the expert potential of al-Farabi Kazakh National University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
The key outcome of the year was the launch of four joint research projects implemented under the PolyU-KazNU Joint Research Projects 2025 program. The total budget of the initiatives amounted to HK$ 1 million.
The projects are being implemented in close cooperation with scientists from the School of Hotel and Tourism Management and the Department of Applied Social Sciences PolyU and fully comply with the research directions stipulated in the agreement on the establishment of the center. During the reporting period, the center prepared and submitted a series of applications for national grant competitions of the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The applications cover urban ecotourism and sustainable development of tourist territories using machine learning methods, models of sustainable rural and community-based tourism, research on religious demography and diversification of modern Kazakh society.
All projects have been developed with the participation of international scientific consultants from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and are currently under competitive consideration.
A significant achievement was the victory of KazNU doctoral student Yerkezhan Dauletkhanova in the prestigious Incoming Research Student Attachment Program (RSAP-Incoming) PolyU. The program provides a scientific internship for a period of 3 to 12 months under the supervision of a professor at the host university and a scholarship of up to 72,000 HKD, which confirms the high academic level and international significance of the research.
With the participation of the center, 28 scientific and academic papers were prepared and published in the reporting year, including articles in international peer-reviewed journals, chapters in collective monographs, conference materials, as well as research by young scientists and students. Key results include a Q1 (SSCI) publication in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, as well as articles and manuscripts at various stages of review in the Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, International Journal of Tourism Cities, Social Sciences, and China Journal of Social Work. A chapter in an international collective monograph devoted to the issues of decolonization of social work practices has been published.
Special attention was paid to the involvement of undergraduates, doctoral students, and undergraduate students in the center's research projects. Young authors presented the results of their work at international forums and won prizes at university and national research competitions.
The Center has acted as an organizer and academic platform for a number of international events. The key event was the II International Sustainable Development of Tourism in Central Asia: Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects Forum, during which the official opening of the center took place. Summing up the results of the reporting year, the PolyU-KazNU Center for Sustainable Development in Central Asia confirmed its role as an interdisciplinary international platform focused on the implementation of applied scientific projects, the development of academic mobility, the training of research personnel and the formation of an expert base for the sustainable development of Central Asia.
Press-service of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
