Dr. Aliya Tankibayeva holds a PhD and MPA. Her research interests include sustainable tourism in nature-based destinations, gender and tourism, and the role of tourism in rural development. She has co-authored peer-reviewed journal articles and policy papers on sustainable natural resource management, including comparative studies across regions. Dr. Tankibayeva has extensive research and consultancy experience, particularly in Central Asia. Her notable professional engagements include serving: • as a short-term consultant for cohorts of early-career scientists in sustainable natural resource management within the WAVE–Central Asia regional project; • contributing to projects on the Ecosystem, Society, and Economic Aspects of the Aral Sea Region (ESERA); and • acting as the Kazakhstan country co-researcher for GLOBE 2020 (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness), a major international study on leadership practices and ideals. She has also been a member of multidisciplinary research teams for international development initiatives, contributing to the preparation of background studies for the World Bank and UNESCO, and was a Green Central Asia Research Fellow (GIZ–DKU). Drawing on her research experience, Dr. Tankibayeva has designed research methodology courses and online training on manuscript preparation for authors in collaboration with the Central Asian Journal of Water Research. She also designed and taught the online course Academic Writing for Research on the Water–Energy–Food–Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus Approach for the Community of Practice of the Eurasian Portal on River Basin Management. Dr. Tankibayeva completed a research internship at Corvinus University (Hungary) in preparation for a workshop on Water Management and Governance in Central Asia in early 2021, and participated in the Erasmus teaching mobility program at the National University of Public Service (Hungary) in 2018.