Saltanat Akhmetova is an Assistant Professor at the Sociology and Anthropology Department of Nazarbayev University. She received a PhD in Sociology from the University of Essex. Her study examines post-return integration experiences of Kazakh repatriates in their ancestral homeland. In her dissertation she investigates different patterns of coexistence of social processes of assimilation and transnationalism in the lives of immigrants. She is a holder of the Bolashak International Scholarship.