From December 2022 to March 2023, a competition was held among young scientists from Central Asia to develop and implement research in the field of water resources, the environment and other related areas. The competition aimed to strengthen technical capacity and regional cooperation in water resource management in Central Asia, including integrated water resources management (IWRM) and raising issues of promoting the Water-Energy-Food Security-Environment (WEFE) nexus approach. The results of the selection of participants for the USAID Regional Project on Water Resources and Environment became known in April 2023.

The maingoal of the research competition was to increase the interest of young scientists from Central Asian countries in the development and implementation of research in the field of water resources, environment and other related areas, including IWRM and issues of promoting the WEFE nexus approach.

There were several thematic areas of the competition, among them: climate change and environmental problems, innovative approaches to management, transboundary, political, and socio-economic issues. The implementation of the project was designed for 1 year, the completion of the project is scheduled for June 2024. The main goal of the project was: to provide support for scientific research in the field of (transboundary) water resources management, hydropower, food security and environmental protection with a focus on increasing the number of scientific publications on water resources and issues of promoting the WEFE nexus approach from Central Asian scientists in cited international journals. Within the framework of the project, platforms have been created for regional cooperation between young scientists; it is important for the project to increase the presence of Central Asian scientists in the international scientific community. This project emphasizes the great importance of involving young people in solving pressing socio-economic issues; in support of young scientists, within the framework of the project, grants were allocated to the winners of the competition in the amount of 5,000 $. Particular attention was paid to the involvement of young women scientists working in the field of IWRM, (transboundary) water resources management, hydropower, food security and environmental protection in Central Asia. The winners of the competition were 12 people from Central Asian countries; only 1 person from Kazakhstan made it to the selection stage.

One of the winners of the competition was a 3rd year doctoral student of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, Faculty of Geography and Environmental Management of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University Monkayeva Gulsara Erzhanovna. As part of the project Monkayeva G.E. a topical topic was presented: “Estimation of the amount of evaporation from the water surface of the Ile-Balkhash basin as a result of modern climate change.” Nowadays, as a result of climate change, studying changes in the distribution cycle of water resources is a very urgent task, but to calculate water resources it is necessary to have not only data on surface and underground runoff, but it is necessary to know the amount of evaporation from the water surface. Due to the insufficient observation network for evaporation from the water surface not only in Kazakhstan, but also in the countries of Central Asia, this study is a significant and relevant work. As part of the project, in May 2023, a summer school on academic writing was held in Almaty for the implementation and preparation of scientific publications in international journals; at the end of the summer school, the winners of the competition received training certificates.