Debat 'Beyond academia: Building a career in non-academic settings'

Feeling limited only to a certain career path at the end of your PhD journey can be quite overwhelming. Based on her experiences of working in international organisations, private and non-profit sectors, Dr. Aijan Sharshenova, executive director of Crossroads Central Asia and Eureast Platform visiting fellow, will share hints and tips on how to venture beyond academic jobs with a PhD. She will discuss transferable skills of PhD holders, networking and communications strategies for employment, and professional development opportunities.

About the speaker

Dr. Aijan Sharshenova is a Bishkek-based political analyst and the Executive Director at Crossroads Central Asia think tank (Kyrgyzstan). She holds two Masters in the EU and Central Asian Studies and in International Studies, and a PhD in Politics from the University of Leeds.

Aijan’s research interests include foreign policy and soft power, as well as democracy promotion, autocracy diffusion. She published extensively on Central Asian politics, focusing on the region’s relations with the EU, Russia and China. Aijan authored a book on the EU democracy promotion in Central Asia and co-edited a recent book on navigating positionality in research.

In addition to her academic career, Aijan has worked on promoting sustainable development goals in the international development area, including within the UN system in the Middle East.