Lehigh University delegation in AlmaU

В период с 17 по 29 мая 13 студентов и 5 преподавателей Lehigh Univeristy посетили AlmaU в рамках программы Global Social Impact Fellowship по проекту, финансируемой UniCEN. Это была выезданая полевая поездка в Казахстан в рамках специального учебного курса.

Программа Global Social Impact Fellowship предназначена для студентов и магистрантов любой программы Университета Лихай, которые хотят работать над проблемами устойчивого развития в странах с низким уровнем дохода. Во время этого летнего проекта студенты участвуют в полевых работах под руководством преподавателей с различными локальными партнерами. Курсы, семинары, ретриты и захватывающий опыт этой программы объединяют обучение на основе опыта, исследования и предпринимательское взаимодействие со студентами, ведущими амбициозные проекты с местными партнерами в разных странах.

Группы студентов работали над своими проектами в течение всего учебного года, и, наконец, они достигли важной вехи в своих проектах. Эти промежуточные результаты были публично представлены каждой командой 20 мая перед высшим руководством, преподавателями и студентами AlmaU.

В состав зрителей защиты вошли

• Проректор по корпоративному развитию Руслан Кожахметов
• Проректор по академическому развитию Асель Арын
• Проректор по науке Бақытжан Сәркеев 
• Деканы Школы Политики и Права Альберто Фриджерио и Школы Цифровых Технологий Куаныш Абешев
• Сотрудники Управления международного сотрудничества и Информационно-ресурсного управления 

Первоначально партнерство между AlmaU и Lehigh University началось с 2 студенческих проектов в области устойчивого развития: Save Tuba и Air Quality. В настоящее время студенты обоих учебных заведений реализуют 4 совместных проекта (полное описание доступно ниже).

Эти проекты направлены на развитие навыков, мышления и рабочего портфолио для решения сложных социальных проблем. Студенты узнают, как создавать реальные жизнеспособные проекты, искать финансирование и привлекать инвестиции, сотрудничать с людьми других культур и происхождения, как управлять командой, работающей в разных часовых поясах, публиковать свои работы в рецензируемых журналах, интегрировать свои идеи в национальные политики и поддерживать социальные тренды, которые влияют на жизнь миллионов людей. Стремление к устойчивому воздействию лежит в основе философии, педагогики и деятельности этой программы с целью подготовки студентов к жизни, полной положительного воздействия. Команды также провели фокус-группы в школах со школьными учителями, встречи с местными НПО и экспертами по своим темам.

Студентов сопровождали руководители их проектов:

• Уильям Гауделли, Ed.D., декан и профессор Колледжа образования, вице-проректор по инновациям в образовании
• Ханджан Мехта, вице-провост по творческим исследованиям и директор инициативы Mountaintop Initiative
• Динисса Дуванова, Associate Professor Департамента международных отношений
• Хен Чой, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor и директор Института охраны окружающей среды и здоровья детей
• Билл Уитни, Административный директор, Офис творческих исследований

24 мая Школа Политики и Права AlmaU и Lehigh University организовали офлайн- и онлайн-семинар на тему “Создание Этической комиссии для исследований в области социальных наук в Казахстане”. Целью этого мероприятия было собрать экспертов из академических кругов, правительственных учреждений, международных организаций и гражданского общества для обсуждения важности создания комиссии по этике для исследований в области социальных наук в Казахстане. Таким образом, этот семинар послужил платформой для обмена мнениями, а также для создания группы экспертов, которая в дальнейшем приступит к созданию комиссии по этике. В семинаре, модератором которого выступила г-жа Динисса Дуванова, приняли участие коллеги из известных казахстанских университетов (Назарбаев Университет, Университет КАЗГЮУ им. М. Нарикбаева), эксперты в области образования.

В рамках опыта культурного погружения 21 мая студенты Университета Лихай посетили этно-аул "Гунны", где попрактиковались в стрельбе из лука, верховой езде, посмотрели демонстрацию культурных традиций и особенностей казахского народа.

27 мая студенты Университета Лихай посетили коворкинг American Space для открытой презентации своих проектов. Они в очередной раз представили свои проекты перед алматинскими студентами и учащимися из разных учебных заведений. В ответ были получены положительные отзывы и комментарии для дальнейшего улучшения их идей.

Во время своего визита Ханджан Мехта, вице-провост по творческим исследованиям и директор инициативы Mountaintop Initiative, провел несколько встреч с ключевыми подразделениями AlmaU, чтобы выявить и продвигать дальнейшие области партнерства. Прошлой весной AlmaU и Университет Лихай подписали Меморандум о взаимопонимании, который запускает будущее сотрудничество в области обмена студентами и преподавателями, исследовательских проектов.

Подробней о программе Global Social Impact Fellowship

Источник: https://creativeinquiry.lehigh.edu/mountaintop-programs/global-social-impact-fellowship

Kazakhstan: Air Quality Initiatives in Almaty (PI: Dinissa Duvanova, International Relations)

Almaty, Kazakhstan experiences extremely poor air quality due to coal fired power plants and transportation emissions. With the projected population growth and lack of investment in pollution-reducing technology, poor air quality is likely to continue harming public health. In the long term, the Air Quality in Almaty team aims to reduce respiratory illnesses due to air pollution. Currently, we are collaborating with an organization called AirVision and using their mobile application to increase awareness and reduce air pollution exposure. We plan to take a multifaceted approach to popularize the app this coming semester through educational campaigns and social media advertisements. By researching how other countries have reduced their air pollution and combining that with our knowledge of Almaty, we intend to propose innovative solutions to AirVision and local government entities. We are in the process of conducting an opinion survey to study the habits and current knowledge of Almaty citizens regarding air quality. This research will allow us to formulate targeted approaches to reduce air pollution exposure. This team welcomes students with diverse academic backgrounds, such as majors in environmental studies, journalism, health medicine and society, earth and environmental sciences, chemistry, sociology, economics, computer science, marketing, political science, and chemical and environmental engineering.

Kazakhstan: Save Tuba (PI: Khanjan Mehta, Creative Inquiry)

Almaty, the commercial capital of Kazakhstan and a major hub in Central Asia, is facing enormous challenges with sustainable urban development. Uncontrolled migration burdens the housing infrastructure, outdoor air quality, access to clean water and waste-water management systems at the constantly-growing periphery of the city leading to negative environmental consequences which compromise economic growth. For example, despite investing over $500M over the last 15 years in recycling systems, only 11% of municipal solid waste is actually recycled. Tuba is a critically-endangered saiga antelope native to the Kazakh Steppes. ‘Save Tuba’ is a sustainability education platform for Almaty’s youngest citizens that connects knowledge, inquiry and action to help students build a healthy future for their communities and the planet. Kazakh students, with guidance from their teachers and families, start recycling, reduce litter, educate their peers, use public transportation, etc. to earn points in a friendly competitive setting. Save Tuba enables K-12 students and their teachers to embark on a series of real, relevant, and meaningful sustainability actions with the goal of long-term behavioral change. The Lehigh team is collaborating with diverse partners to develop and validate the app and pilot-test it with schools in Almaty. We are seeking students from all majors across campus with a deep interest in sustainability education and action. Students with graphic design skills and app design/development skills are particularly welcome.

Kazakhstan: Research Integrity in Kazakhstan (Co-PIs: Bill Gaudelli, College of Education; Dinissa Duvanova, International Relations; Khanjan Mehta, Creative Inquiry)

IRBs (Institutional Review Boards) are bodies established by governments to review and monitor research involving human subjects. Lehigh, like all U.S. universities which conduct research, has an IRB and approval is required for any research project that involves working with humans, whether it be conducted in the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, or engineering fields. Kazakhstan, with dozens of universities and research institutes, has no IRB process for human subjects research outside of clinical (medical) research. As the country continues its transition to a knowledge economy and more research studies are undertaken by universities, there is a need for better research protections and building a culture of research integrity. In collaboration with faculty and students at Almaty Management University and other Kazakh stakeholders, this project will focus on developing the framework for an IRB-like body in Kazakhstan, building necessary partnerships and getting buy-in, and executing on this shared vision and strategy. The result of this work will be to greatly expand Kazakhstan’s research capabilities and the integrity of that research, and to ensure that it is always conducted in an ethical manner. All majors are welcome to apply.

Kazakhstan: Environmental Pollution and Asthma Effects (PI: Hyunok Choi, College of Health)

Globally, quantifying and clarifying the causalities underlying environmentally attributable childhood illnesses, including adverse birth outcomes, asthma, obesity, and intellectual impairments, remains an urgent public health challenge. To date, our group has demonstrated that early-life exposures to fossil fuel-emitted air pollution independently contribute to adverse birth outcomes, obesity, and doctor-diagnosed asthma. In particular, air pollution due to fossil-fuel burning remains an urgent challenge in Kazakhstan. However, the extent to which neighborhood environmental, demographic, and social attributes contribute to the inception and exacerbation of multiple diseases during childhood within Kazakh children remains unknown. Furthermore, air pollution and regional climate change exact an exceptionally high toll on children and the impoverished segment of the population, thereby highlighting the underlying injustice. One of the most intractable barriers to an improved understanding includes an overall absence of valid ground-level air quality data in Kazakhstan. Such an absence of human air pollution exposure data means that protective policies for the general population could not be developed. Over the next 10-year period, our overarching goal is to quantify the human health and economic benefits due to the conversion from fossil-fuel dependency to renewable energy sources, mediated by reducing the environmental pollution. During the next five-year period, we aim to determine the asthma risk resulting from early-life exposures to PM2.5, NO2, and ozone, respectively or in conjunction, after adjusting for social-demographic behaviors. As a first step, our short-term goal is to build Kazakhstan-focused, multiscale geospatial data infrastructure. Over the next five-year period, we will seek to deepen our understanding of the environmental origins of childhood developmental disease, including but not limited to asthma, obesity, and neurocognitive impairments.

История сотрудничества Lehigh-AlmaU (версия на русском языке доступна по ссылкам новостей)

Lehigh University and AlmaU partnership in the program Social Global Impact Fellowship supported by American Councils

In January 2020 Almaty Management University, AlmaU and Lehigh University started a fruitful collaboration, with the participation of students and faculty from both universities. In the frame of the Global Social Impact Fellowship programme, supported by the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan and funded by UniCEN - Central Asia University Partnerships Program which is implemented by the American Councils for International Education of Kazakhstan, more than 20 students and several faculty members of the two Universities have worked together to implement sustainable development education projects. First project refers to the theme of sustainable education for school students (Save Tuba) where participants aim to create a smartphone app for school children, educating them about the sustainability issues and targeting the change of mindset. The second project targets air pollution in Almaty where participants do research on this issue and propose solutions. Here smart city project innovations are being introduced throughout Kazakhstan, particularly in the country’s largest city, Almaty. These innovations are happening in the areas of health care, education, and safety/security, among many others. As Almaty continues to grow and develop into a major world capital, the need for it to be on the leading edge of the “smart cities” movement will only increase. This project will work with community organizations and leading universities in Kazakhstan, as well as students from Lingnan University in Hong Kong, to design and develop the next generation of smart city urban design innovations, and find ways to work with governmental and NGO entities to implement those solutions into the Kazakh capital.*

*Taken from the official website of Lehigh University

https://www.almau.edu.kz/center_for_the_development_of_civil_society_almau-10103

November 01, 2021

AlmaU in collaboration with Lehigh University (USA) held the Summit “Collaborations for Social Innovation and Sustainable Development”

AlmaU in collaboration with Lehigh University (USA) held the Summit “Collaborations for Social Innovation and Sustainable Development” on October 07, 2021 in hybrid format.
AlmaU Leadership and Lehigh Representatives opened Welcome Session and Panel Discussion at the Main Hall of AlmaU Campus.
Summit Participantes shared their Breakouts by Theme:
- Research Partnerships and Capacity Building
- Language Acquisition and Intercultural Communication
- Health, Sustainability, and Social Enterprise .
The Summit brought together over 80 academicians, researchers, changemakers, educational innovators, thought leaders, and experts for a day of conversation and inspiration. Summit program opened opportunities to expand partnerships, joint programs and projects, as well as to run open dialog on sustainable development, capacity building and intercultural communications between academia, government, non-profits, and industry.

https://www.almau.edu.kz/en/news/almau_in_collaboration_with_lehigh_university-13165

July 29, 2021

AlmaU’s active collaboration with Lehigh University, USA goes to the next level

In January 2020 AlmaU and Lehigh University started a fruitful collaboration, with the participation of students and teachers of both institutions. In the frame of the Global Social Impact Fellowship, supported by the U.S. Embassy and funded by UniCEN - Central Asia University Partnerships Program which is implemented by the American Councils for International Education in Kazakhstan, more than 20 students and several faculty members of the two Universities have worked together to implement sustainable development education projects.

Lehigh and AlmaU students are working under the supervision of AlmaU faculty Ms. Aigerim Serikbekova (School of engineering management) and Ms. Aurora Díaz-Soloaga (School of management) and Dr. Khanjan Mehta (Vice Provost for Creative Inquiry Director of the Mountaintop Initiative Lehigh University) and Dr. Dinissa Duvanova (Associate Professor, Lehigh University).

Within the framework of this project, AlmaU project coordinators visited Lehigh University in July 2021 together with the vice-rector for Academic Affairs, Assel Aryn, and the dean of the School of Engineering Management, Kuanysh Abeshev. During the visit they attended the Unconference on Impact Education and met with many top managers (Provost, vice provost, deans) and faculty of Lehigh University. The goal of those days was to look for further cooperation in fields like: exchanges, capacity building, joint projects, internationalization, and much more. 

Furthermore, in July 2021, Lehigh representatives visited AlmaU where they met with top management, deans and faculty. Many meetings have been conducted during these days, allowing to strengthen cooperation and enlarging the number of joint projects. Guests together with AlmaU faculty met with the Akimat, the US Embassy, local industry leaders, universities and NGOs.

In October 2021 partners are preparing to host an international Summit dedicated to Sustainability development.

https://www.almau.edu.kz/en/news/almaus_active_collaboration_with_lehigh-13085

February 22, 2021

Rector of Almaty Management University Suleimenov Yerbol SUleimenov, during his work trip to the United States met with Khanjan Mehta Vice Provost for Creative Inquiry and Director of the Mountaintop Initiative at Lehigh University.

At the meeting, the interim results of the joint project “Academic Partnership between Lehigh University, USA and Almaty Management University, Kazakhstan” were discussed within the framework of grant funding from American Councils.

The aim of the project is to develop partnerships and exchange experience in three areas:

1. development of the educational program;
2. research faculty partnerships for social impact;
3.  student exchange.

The mentors of this project from AlmaU are Serikbekova Aigerim and Aurora Diaz.

As a result of the meeting, agreements were reached on the further implementation of the project and future cooperation.

https://www.almau.edu.kz/en/news/rector_almaty_management_university_suleimenov-13007