Serik Orazgaliyev

Position: Associate Professor
Education Background: Ph.D. in Development Studies, University of Cambridge (UK)

Research Areas: Sustainable development and international development, public sector reform and innovations, public policy agendas and SDGs, social cohesion. 

Dr. Serik Orazgaliyev has been with GSPP since 2016 first as an Instructor, Assistant Professor and currently as an Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) country chapter in Kazakhstan. He held visiting professor positions at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore (2017) and at the Center for International Development and Environmental Research, Justus Liebig Universität (Germany, 2024). He was also appointed as a Research Fellow at Hiroshima University in Japan (NERPS Center) and CAREC Institute in China, Urumqi.

Research: His research broadly focuses on international and sustainable development as well as reforms and innovations in the public sector. He is an Associate Editor and Editorial Board Member for International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management. He also served as a guest editor in the Environmental Research Letters (ERL) journal and the International Journal for Water Resources Development (IJWRD). Serik Orazgaliyev was part of the group of leading global researchers who endorsed their Recommendations for the United Nations Summit of the Future (published in the 2024 Sustainable Development Report). He also contributed to the Fossil Fuel Production Gap Report, published by the United Nations Environment Programme. This report tracks the discrepancy between governments' planned fossil fuel production and global production levels consistent with goals to limit global warming.

Teaching: At GSPP Dr. Orazgaliyev teaches core and elective modules Public Policy and Analysis (MPP621), Sustainable Development and Environmental Governance (MPE-DPE682) and Law, Governance and Public Policy (DPP615). He taught in ‘The Leader of the New Formation’ Executive Education Programs for top-level government officials and served as evaluator for the selection of candidates for the President’s Cadre Reserve (2020-2025). In the past, he taught several modules for the Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) teaching programs and was recognised with this organisation’s 'Honorary AUA Lecturer' Award. He is also a recipient of the Nazarbayev University Teaching Award (2022, Internationalisation category).

Service: He has served as an independent consultant to international organisations and government agencies, including the Asian Development Bank and Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Economic Development, where he provided recommendations on institutional effectiveness, public administration, and civil service reform. S.Orazgaliyev is also a member of an Expert Group of the Senate of the Republic of Kazakhstan. For his service in the country's Higher Educational system, he was awarded with the appreciation letter from Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev and Satpayev Medal from Kazakhstan’s Academy of Sciences.