KazNU scientists won a Megagrant in the amount of 4 billion tenge

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University has won a Mega-grant in the competition for scientific and scientific-technical programs for 2023-2025 from the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The grant amount is 4 billion tenge.

The program is related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is aimed at solving strategically important tasks in the West Kazakhstan region. The project will be implemented for three years. During this period, scientists will have to find solutions to issues of sustainable ecological and socio-economic development of the region, ecology, conservation and management of water resources, wildlife and flora. Also, the project participants will have to analyze the composition and quality of the soil and determine the level of degradation of the soil cover caused by man-made disturbances, shallowing of water bodies, air pollution with petroleum products, and toxic chemicals.

According to the head of the scientific project, Doctor of Geographical Sciences Maulken Akishovna Askarova, the program is quite large-scale and research will be conducted in Mangistau, Atyrau, West Kazakhstan and Aktobe regions. "Studies are planned to determine the growth of erosion processes, problems of pasture depression and desertification as a result of economic activity in the region. The purpose of the program is to conduct comprehensive research to ensure the sustainable development (SD) of the natural, economic and socio-economic systems of the West Kazakhstan region," M. Askarova said.

The participants and performers of the program are: NAO "Al-Farabi Kazakh National University", JSC "Institute of Geography and Water Security", LLP "Institute of Hydrogeology and Geoecology named after U.M. Akhmedsafin", LLP "Kazakh Research Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry named after U.U. Uspanov", LLP "Scientific and Production Center of Fisheries", NAO "Caspian State University of Technology and Engineering named after Sh. Yessenova", NAO "Makhambet Utemisov West Kazakhstan University", RSE at the Institute of Botany and Phytointroduction of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and RSE at the Institute of Economics of the KN of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The project participants will offer solutions for studying problems and will use modern methods of qualitative research.