Read our latest blog piece by Gulzat Botoeva and Sofya du Boulay. Passionate about empowering voices from the region, Gulzat and Sofya talk to us about the USTA Mentorship programme which matches dozens of young Central Asian scholars with senior academics from around the world.
Early career researchers encounter a range of obstacles, from conceptualising their research and getting it published to navigating career paths, prioritising mental well-being, and securing funding. Central Asian scholars are not immune to these universal issues and addressing these challenges individually can be daunting. The USTA Mentorship Programme offers support in overcoming these difficulties. (‘Usta’, ‘Ustod’, or ‘Ustaz’ mean a master of specific skills in Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Kazakh languages. We use this word to not only symbolise the relationship between the mentors and mentees but also to reflect how mentees grow into skilful writers themselves).
Designed to empower early-career researchers from Central Asia by enhancing their contributions to academic knowledge, the USTA Mentorship Programme fosters new, local analytical frameworks.
The programme addresses two key challenges faced by local scholars: a lack of tools to engage in research and the absence of an academic writing culture. We aim to cultivate a strong foundation for academic writing and publishing in English – particularly in international journals. We are doing this by creating a supportive community, facilitating connections with established scholars as mentors, and offering a series of skill-building seminars. Our aim is to bring the voices of Central Asian researchers into broader academic discussions.
A short history of the USTA project
The USTA Mentorship project emerged from a grassroots initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the isolation and academic challenges many scholars faced, a small group of Central Asian researchers, including the current programme organisers, formed an online community. Initially, our group was a modest effort to stay connected and support each other during difficult times. However, it quickly expanded into a thriving community of nearly two thousand members.
This community spurred various initiatives to support early-career researchers, including writing groups, a mentorship programme, the Central Asian Research Review (a platform for reviewing books authored by local scholars), and a range of lectures and seminars on writing and research. These efforts not only helped participants improve their writing but also provided a platform to discuss critical issues such as identity, decolonial approaches to research, and the unique challenges faced by scholars from Central Asia.
These early efforts revealed significant challenges for local scholars: a lack of access to research tools, high teaching loads, and, most importantly, an academic writing culture distinct from global practices, shaped by the region’s historic, linguistic and institutional contexts. The current USTA Mentorship project builds on these initiatives, formalising them into a structured programme designed to provide long-term support for early-career researchers across Central Asia.
The establishment of the Mentorship Project
The mentorship programme was launched in 2021 to offer early-career researchers tailored, one-on-one guidance from experienced academics. Fifteen mentees selected for the 2023-2025 programme are part of the third cohort to receive mentorship and training on successfully publishing in academic journals. Since 2021, the mentorship project has selected and trained forty-eight mentees from a pool of one hundred and thirty-two applicants. The mentorship programme is organised by a small team of scholars from Central Asia. Professor Rico Isaacs, the editor of the Central Asian Survey journal, has been a huge help in our third round of the programme.
USTA Mentorship: how it works in practice
Pairing mentees with established scholars in their field of study is one of the cornerstones of the programme. Mentors are selected based on their research expertise, alignment with the mentee’s area of interest, and willingness to work on a voluntary basis throughout the project’s duration. These mentor-mentee relationships are vital, as they help develop life-long academic connections, open networks for early-career scholars, and facilitate deeper engagement with their writing projects. We have been told that the mentorship project was a life changing experience for Cholpon Orozobekova (mentee in the 2021-2022 cohort) as her mentor provided her with invaluable advice.
Since the second round of the programme (which took place in 2022-2023), we have also organised masterclasses with senior scholars to address the challenges of academic writing. Many workshops have focused on bridging theory and data; the art of writing articles and book proposals; and managing writing alongside high teaching loads or precarious academic positions. Some other workshops have covered topics such as mental health issues and academic isolationism, as well as facilitating discussions on coping strategies in terms of balancing work, childcare and social media presence.
Online writing marathons
Our mentees have also been introduced to our writing marathons, which began as an informal parallel initiative during the pandemic. These marathons typically last for a month, with weekly meetings to discuss the joys and challenges of writing. They also provide a space for members to present their initial drafts and find writing partners for smaller group work. Sofya du Boulay, one of the team members, was part of the first writing marathons. She was able to finalise her doctoral thesis with the communal support of fellow writers.
USTA workshop in Almaty in July 2024
With the support of the British Academy’s International Workshops Fund, we were able to organise our first in-person workshop in July 2024 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The three-day workshop brought together thirteen mentees, organisers, and guest lecturers. It was a unique opportunity to connect, share projects, discuss challenges, and enjoy each other’s company. We were fortunate to have Professor Madeleine Reeves (of Oxford University and former Central Asian Survey journal editor), Rano Turaeva (of Ludwig-Maximillian University), and Diana T. Kudaibergen (of University College London and editor of the Central Asian Affairs journal) run engaging workshops on decolonial theories and methodologies, practicalities of writing articles, and citation politics.
Our task as organisers was not only in creating an academic discussion but also providing space and support for some mentees with small children. We are happy that a few mentees were able to attend the workshop with the support of their families. Four participants travelled with their young children and family members, who assisted with childcare during the seminars. The children enjoyed the social activities in the evenings. We are proud that the USTA network supports family-friendly spaces and interactions. Some of our mentees shared with their reflections on Almaty, 2024 workshop on our site.
Our first achievements
Despite the short history of our programme and the challenges involved in publishing academic articles and books, we are proud to have already achieved notable successes:
Cholpon Orozobekova, a mentee from our first cohort, has published her book ‘Foreign Fighters and International Peace: Joining Jihad and Marching Back Home’ in November 2022 with the support of her mentor Professor John Heathershaw.
Anastassiya Reshetnyak, a mentee from our first cohort, co-authored the article ‘A Framework for Explaining National P/CVE Programs: A Case Study of Kazakhstan’ with her mentor Professor Mariya Omelicheva.
Our mentee from the most recent cohort, Mirlan Bektursunov, published his article ‘The Rise of the “Lineage Proletariat”: The Soviet State’s Class Policy and Kyrgyz Lineage Society in the 1920s’ in Ab Imperio Journal with the support of the USTA project and his mentor, Professor Shoshana Keller.
We believe that these individual small steps reinforce the bigger leap that we are doing together as the Central Asian academic initiative.
Building capacity
Limited resources, high teaching load and institutional resistance impede the development of research culture in Central Asia. These structural issues are not unique to the region but can also be found in other Global South contexts. The USTA mentorship program aims to overcome these institutional obstacles through capacity and network building activities. By supporting and creating networks we aim to help mentees navigate the international academic job market and build a global academic village.
Please visit our USTA Mentorship website to learn about our team members, reflections from our mentees from the Almaty workshop and forthcoming events.
We are also on USTA Mentorship Instagram.
If you are interested in applying for our mentorship scheme in the future or interested in setting up a similar scheme, please contact [email protected]
