This summer, we were delighted to welcome back a dear friend and collaborator of NURCE — Professor Rana Zayadin, based at the University of Sussex Business School. Rana’s visit wasn’t just a professional collaboration; it was a homecoming.
“Some places you visit just feel right,” she shared during a walk around the NU campus. “Astana is one of those places — I felt at home the moment I landed.”
During her time with us, Professor Rana took on a wide range of roles — mentor, co-author, seminar speaker, and editorial lead. Alongside Professor Yousafzai, she is co-developing several new research papers and grant proposals that explore ethical entrepreneurship and decolonial narratives. She is also leading the editorial process for one of NURCE’s most emotionally resonant projects to date: Tolyk Adam, a forthcoming book of narratives featuring entrepreneurs with disabilities across Kazakhstan.
In her own words:
“What you’re doing at NURCE is incredibly rare — you’re building a research culture rooted in the soil of Kazakhstan. It’s not about applying abstract Western frameworks, but developing new ones through lived experience, local philosophy, and radical care. It’s humbling to be part of that.”
— Rana Zayadin
“Some places you visit just feel right,” she shared during a walk around the NU campus. “Astana is one of those places — I felt at home the moment I landed.”
During her time with us, Professor Rana took on a wide range of roles — mentor, co-author, seminar speaker, and editorial lead. Alongside Professor Yousafzai, she is co-developing several new research papers and grant proposals that explore ethical entrepreneurship and decolonial narratives. She is also leading the editorial process for one of NURCE’s most emotionally resonant projects to date: Tolyk Adam, a forthcoming book of narratives featuring entrepreneurs with disabilities across Kazakhstan.
In her own words:
“What you’re doing at NURCE is incredibly rare — you’re building a research culture rooted in the soil of Kazakhstan. It’s not about applying abstract Western frameworks, but developing new ones through lived experience, local philosophy, and radical care. It’s humbling to be part of that.”
— Rana Zayadin
