Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Sociology and Anthropology department’s faculty members are involved in various research projects. You could see list of the projects/conferences where some of faculty members have been part of:
Abay Namen
Post-graduate researcher
May-July 2023: Upper Palaeolithic technological and cultural adaptations in the northern
piedmonts of the Tian Shan, Kazakhstan.
This research was funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation (Germany). It aimed at locating sources of naturally occurring bitumen and sampling them to investigate their adhesives properties. This is done to understand prehistoric adhesive technology. The PI of the project is Abay Namen.

2018-2022: PALAEOSILKROAD project.
The PALAEOSILKROAD project was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and aimed at locating and excavating new Palaeolithic sites across the piedmont zones. The project was granted to Dr. Radu Iovita. Abay Namen was a member of the project. www.palaeosilkroad.eu

May-June 202: Lithic technology and raw material variability in the Inner Asian Mountain
Corridor of Kazakhstan.
This research received funding from the Leakey Foundation (USA) to conduct field surveys aimed at locating sources of various lithic raw materials used at the stratified Palaeolithic sites in southern and southeastern Kazakhstan. The PI of the project is Abay Namen.


Philipp Schroeder
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Currently: A Comparative, Interdisciplinary Ethnography on Entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Please see the link for more information about the project: https://research.nu.edu.kz/en/projects/a-comparative-interdisciplinary-ethnography-on-entrepreneurship-i

2019 - 2023: The New Silk Road: National Visions and Everyday Imaginaries of Modernity in Eurasia. Funded by University of Freiburg, Germany.

2012 - 2021: The China-Business - An Ethnography of Kyrgyz Traders and their Translocal Livelihoods in-between ‘Home’, China and Russia. Habilitation research. Supported by VolkswagenStiftung, Germany.