Graduate School of Public Policy
Graduate School of Public Policy
Graduate School of Public Policy
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Research Areas
Water security, environmental governance and policies, sustainable development
Research Output
Contact information:
Dr. Aliya Assubayeva
Assistant Professor
Graduate School of Public Policy
Room; Nazarbayev University
53, Kabanbay Batyr Avenue
Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
Telephone: +7 7172 70-6074
Email: aliya.assubayeva@nu.edu.kz
Research Output
Contact information:
Dr. Aliya Assubayeva
Assistant Professor
Graduate School of Public Policy
Room; Nazarbayev University
53, Kabanbay Batyr Avenue
Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
Telephone: +7 7172 70-6074
Email: aliya.assubayeva@nu.edu.kz
Aliya Assubayeva
Position: Assistant Professor
Education Background: Ph.D. in Public Policy, Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan)
Dr. Aliya Assubayeva is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University. Trained in water management, agricultural economics, and public policy. Prior to her current role, she worked as a Research Associate at the Center for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
Dr. Assubayeva’s professional journey includes extensive field research, teaching, and mentorship across diverse geographical regions, including Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, and East Africa. She received her Ph.D. in Public Policy from Nazarbayev University, focusing her doctoral research on Central Asia’s water security and water policies. Her research interests lie at the intersection of water security, transboundary cooperation, environmental governance and policy, and SDGs.
She received the NU Teaching Award in 2021 in the category of Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for Teaching Excellence (Kazakhstan). In 2022, she was awarded the JLU Early Career Researcher Grant (Germany) and the OSCE Academy Research Fellowship (Kyrgyzstan). Dr. Assubayeva received the PCMO Postdoctoral Grant (Germany) in 2024 and the Erasmus+ Grant for Teaching Mobility at Makerere University in Uganda in 2024. Additionally, she participated in the Mentoring Hessen ‘Frauen in Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft’ program in Germany from 2023 to 2024.
Dr. Assubayeva is the Associate Editor of the Central Asian Journal of Water Research and an External Member of the Centre for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU) at Justus Liebig University Giessen (Germany). She is the Principal Investigator of the Water Governance Cluster at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Kazakhstan and Co-Principal Investigator of the DAAD-funded SDGnexus Network project, which is a global community of universities, research centres and stakeholders dedicated to advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Position: Assistant Professor
Education Background: Ph.D. in Public Policy, Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan)
Dr. Aliya Assubayeva is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University. Trained in water management, agricultural economics, and public policy. Prior to her current role, she worked as a Research Associate at the Center for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
Dr. Assubayeva’s professional journey includes extensive field research, teaching, and mentorship across diverse geographical regions, including Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, and East Africa. She received her Ph.D. in Public Policy from Nazarbayev University, focusing her doctoral research on Central Asia’s water security and water policies. Her research interests lie at the intersection of water security, transboundary cooperation, environmental governance and policy, and SDGs.
She received the NU Teaching Award in 2021 in the category of Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for Teaching Excellence (Kazakhstan). In 2022, she was awarded the JLU Early Career Researcher Grant (Germany) and the OSCE Academy Research Fellowship (Kyrgyzstan). Dr. Assubayeva received the PCMO Postdoctoral Grant (Germany) in 2024 and the Erasmus+ Grant for Teaching Mobility at Makerere University in Uganda in 2024. Additionally, she participated in the Mentoring Hessen ‘Frauen in Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft’ program in Germany from 2023 to 2024.
Dr. Assubayeva is the Associate Editor of the Central Asian Journal of Water Research and an External Member of the Centre for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU) at Justus Liebig University Giessen (Germany). She is the Principal Investigator of the Water Governance Cluster at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Kazakhstan and Co-Principal Investigator of the DAAD-funded SDGnexus Network project, which is a global community of universities, research centres and stakeholders dedicated to advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Publications
Peer-reviewed journal articles
Alamanos, A., Xenarios, S., Assubayeva, A., Landis, C. F. M., Dellis, K., & Koundouri, P. (2025). Systems-thinking innovations for water security. Frontiers in Water, 6, 1492698.
Abdullaev, I., Assubayeva, A., Bobojonov, I., Djanibekov, N., Dombrowsky, I., Gafurov, A., ... & Ziganshina, D. (2025). Current challenges in Central Asian water governance and their implications for research, higher education, and science-policy interaction. Central Asian Journal of Water Research, 11(1), 47-58.
Hermans, K., Djanibekov, N., Abdullaev, I., Abduvalieva, N., Assubayeva, A., Blondin, S., ... & Umirbekov, A. (2024). Future research directions for understanding the interconnections between climate change, water scarcity, and mobility in rural Central Asia. Climate and Development, 1-10.
Assubayeva, A. & Marco, J. (2024). Methodological Approaches on Synergies and Trade-offs within the 2030 Agenda, ISCIENCE. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.111100.
Assubayeva, A. (2023). Review of uncertainties in water security decision-making in Central Asia. OSCE Academy in Bishkek. Research Paper #12, 1-17. https://osce-academy.net/upload/file/rp_12_final.pdf
Assubayeva, A., Xenarios, S., Li, A., & Fazli, S. (2022). Assessing water security in Central Asia through a Delphi method and a clustering analysis. Front. Environ. Sci. 10:970633. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.970633
Assubayeva, A. (2021). Experts ’ Perceptions of Water Security in Central Asia: results from a Delphi study. Central Asian Journal of Water Research 7(1), 50–69. https://doi.org/10.29258/CAJWR/2021-R1.v7-1/50-69.eng
Xenarios, S., Assubayeva, A., Xie, L., Sehring, J., Amirkhanov, D., Sultanov, A., and Fazli, S. (2020) A bibliometric review of the water security concept in Central Asia. Environmental Research Letters, Volume 16, Number 1, 013001. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abc717/meta
Peer-reviewed book chapters
Assubayeva, A. & Sehring, J. (2024). Water Management. In: Mayer, S., Lempp, J. (eds) The EU as an Actor in Central Asia. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51354-1_10
Sehring, J., Sharipova, B., & Assubayeva, A. (2024). The politics of water governance in Central Asia: institutionalizing river basin management”. Chapter 15 In Handbook on the Governance and Politics of Water Resources. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800887909.00024
Xenarios, S., Sehring, J., Assubayeva, A., Schmidt-Vogt, D., Abdullaev, I., & Araral, E. (2019). Water Security Assessments in Central Asia: Research and Policy Implications. In Water Insecurity and Sanitation in Asia (pp. 358). Asian Development Bank. https://www.adb.org/publications/water-insecurity-and-sanitation-asia
Policy briefs
Assubayeva, A., Sharipova, B., Mirumachi, N., & Everitt, L. (2024). The United Nations 2023 Water Conference: Lessons from the Aral Sea Basin. https://doi.org/10.18742/pub01-173
Assubayeva, A. (2023). Water sector financing in Kazakhstan. CAREC Institute. March 2023. https://www.carecinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Policy-Brief_Water-sector-financing-in-Kazakhstan.pdf