Ms. Anar Shaikenova is a well-established professional in public administration and public policy. She defended her doctoral thesis in regulation and governance, focusing on policy learning and policy capacities in Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Russia. Her other research areas include strategic trade controls (STCs), economic sanctions, compliance, and the role of Central Asian states in nuclear non-proliferation and international security, given her nine years of work experience with the US Department of State Export Control and Border Security Program. She also possesses a wide network of professional and personal contacts due to her outstanding communication and relationship management skills.

Education:

• – Ph.D. in Public Policy, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
• – M.A. in Public Administration, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
• – B.A. in International Relations and Economics, University of Minnesota, MN, USA.

Gerald Pech is a researcher at the DPRK Strategic Research Center at KIMEP University and associate professor of economics at KIMEP University. He received his PhD from Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany in 1995 and held teaching and research positions at the Graduate School Bochum and Dortmund, the University of St Andrews, the National University of Ireland in Galway, the American University in Bulgaria and the University of Mainz. His fields of specialization are game theory and the economic analysis of institutions.

James De-La-Haye is a Research Assistant at KIMEP University’s DPRK Strategic Research Center. His work focuses on international relations, economic and social development, public policy, and project governance, shaped by his experience in academia, NGOs, and EU-funded projects.

Education:

• – Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science, Northumbria University, U.K.

Jenny Hunken is a Communications & Research Assistant at KIMEP University’s Office of the President and works closely with the DPRK Strategic Research Center. Her professional interests include education, youth development, and communications which she has developed through work in universities, NGOs, and government.

Education:

• – Masters of Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California, California, USA
• – Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Macalester College, Minnesota, USA

Jeremy Lonjon is the Communications & Research Director at the Office of the President and contributes to the work of the DPRK Strategic Research Center at KIMEP University. He holds a BBA in Marketing from the ICN Business School in Nancy, France, and from the Russian Academy of Economics named after Plekhanov in Moscow, Russia. He also holds an M.A. in International Relations and European Studies from the University of Strasbourg in France. His research interests include the post-Soviet space with a focus on Central Asia.

Dr Sungju Park-Kang is Research Fellow at the DPRK Strategic Research Center, KIMEP University, Kazakhstan and Adjunct Professor at the Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku, Finland. Park-Kang was formerly Assistant Professor of International Relations and Korean Studies at Leiden University, the Netherlands and the University of Central Lancashire, UK. His work has appeared in Review of International Studies, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Polity and Asia Europe Journal, among others. Park-Kang is the author of Tears of Theory: International Relations as Storytelling and Fictional International Relations: Gender, Pain and Truth.