On September 22-23, the Al-Farabi Library of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University hosted the ESCAS-2023 regional conference "Power, People and Cultural Change in an ever-evolving Central Asia", organized by the European Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS) and KazNU. Within the framework of the two-day conference, 8 sessions, 2 plenary meetings, 49 panel discussion platforms worked. The event was attended by about 300 scientists and research experts in the field of history, culture, economics, politics from Central Asia, the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Finland, Russia, Japan, South Korea, China, India. The topic of the scientific meeting was the analysis of global trends, assessment of the challenges taking place in an unstable world, the main trends and events in Central Asia. Experts shared the results of research on the transformation of political institutions in the fields of geopolitics, migration to Central Asia, education and media literacy in the field of religion, culture, media, gender equality, urbanization, education, and also demonstrated the impact of modern challenges and events taking place in the world related to people and cultural changes on the achievement of 17 Sustainable Development Goals the development established by the UN was discussed.

The event was actively attended by the teaching staff, doctoral students and undergraduates of the Department of Religious Studies and Cultural Studies. Today, the head of the department Ainur Kurmanalieva and the deputy head of the department Mira Baltymova together with doctoral students and undergraduates discussed the work of the conference. During the talks with the speakers, the students noted their extensive experience in conducting scientific research. The conference made it possible to expand scientific cooperation, write joint scientific publications, and create new research projects at the international level within the framework of Central Asian studies.