Kanat Islambekov
Research Scientist
Kanat Islambekov is a Master's student at the Nazarbayev Univeristy and a researcher with interests in digital and computational demography, population and development, and governance policies. His academic background combines social sciences and quantitative methods, which has shaped his approach to studying demographic change through computational and data-driven perspectives. He is currently co-authoring a paper on The role of religiosity and family ties in the Second Demographic Transition in Kazakhstan, where they explore how cultural and social norms influence demographic transitions.
CVEducation
Master's Degree in Public Policy
Nazarbayev University
2024 - 2026
Master's Degree in Public Policy(exchange program)
Korean Development Institute
September 2025 - December 2025
B.S. in Political Science
Higher School of Economics
2020 - 2024
GPA: 8.83/10.0Academic Interests
- Digital and Computational Demography
- Population and Development
- Governance Policies
Publications
WORKING PAPER The role of religiosity and family values in the context of the Second Demographic Transition in Kazakhstan
2025
Research Projects
In Progress - Measuring Internal Migration Flow in Kazakhstan using Google Trends
Independent Research
Methods & Tools: Python, Data Analysis(pandas), Data Vizualization, HTML
Code
Research Notes
Small Jupyter notebooks and short research notes.
- Fertility Agent-Based-Modelling in Kazakhstan using Gemini 3 Using Gemini 3 and Google AI Studio to simulate fertility patterns in Kazakhstan based on MICS 2015 data and Yang, X. Y., Liang, S., & Lu, Y. (2023). Ethnic context and fertility differential in post‐Soviet Kazakhstan. Population, Space and Place, 29(6), e2677. It requires a Google account to access.
- Total Fertility Rate (TFR) prediction via development indicators using Random Forest
- Population Pyramid in Kazakhstan 2009-2025
Professional Experience
Intern
Bureau of National Statistics, Department of Demographics
May 2025 - June 2025
Created different versions of dashboards in Tableau and Qlik Sense for stat.gov.kz. To optimize the process, the restructuring of 20 annual data tables for dashboards and for future projects was completed.
Data Collector & Data Analyst
IMG Arena
November 2022 – June 2025
Collected and analyzed data of 50+ sporting events.
Data Collector & Data Analyst
Resource Center for Field Research and Survey Technologies
January 2022 – May 2022
Conducted 200+ qualitative interviews for the national survey. Analyzed 500+ interviews using Python and R.
Research Assistant
CoronaNet Research Project
August 2021 – January 2022
Identified and filtered 1000+ state decrees designated to combat COVID-19 in Kazakhstan. Coded 400+ state decrees designated to combat COVID-19 in Kazakhstan. Conductex an analysis and summary of those 400+ state decrees designated to combat COVID-19 in Kazakhstan.