Aliya Kuzhabekova is an Associate Professor at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. Aliya holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Policy from the University of Minnesota (UofM). Prior to her current appointment, Aliya worked as an Associate Professor at Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan and a Postdoc at the Center for Science and Technology Policy, UofM. Aliya’s research interests are in the field of international and comparative higher education. Her work is focused on understanding the process of research capacity building in emerging economies and scholarly identity development of doctoral students, internationalization, and international mobility, as well as equity issues in higher education, including the advancement of women in STEM fields. She was awarded 10 research grants by the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada, Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan and the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs. Aliya is a member of the Editorial and Advisory Boards of several journals, including European Education, Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, and Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education. She has served as a Senior Co-Chair of the Europe and Central Asia Special Interest Group of the Comparative and International Education Society and a Board member of CSSHE, having contributed as a Co-Chair of the 2025 Awards Committee. She is also a current Co-Chair of the Higher Education SIG of CIES. Aliya is committed to contributing to further strengthening of CSSHE including via building connections with other scholarly societies abroad, such as  Higher Education SIG of CIES.