Postgraduate research students

My PhD is funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, through the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences, and is provisionally titled "Becoming a Queer Migrant in Kazakhstan: Choices, Pathways, Identities." 

Through a participant-centred, participatory exploration of pre-movement queer migration decision-making with queer migrants and aspiring queer migrants in Kazakhstan, I aim to shed new light on queer migratory aspiration and destination choice not just in Kazakhstan but also across other countries and regions. 

List by: Type | Date

• Dr Leyla Sayfutdinova
• Dr Francesca Stella

• Economic and Social Research Council: 3.5 PhD Scholarship, 2022-2026
• Scottish Graduate School for Social Sciences: Difficult Language Training (DLT), 2023-4
• University of Wisconsin-Madison: WISLI scholarship, 2023
• University of Wisconsin-Madison: CESSI scholarship, 2023

• Central Eurasian Studies Society Annual Conference
  (September 2022) Napier, E., Conference Presentation:
  “It's half being queer and half just wanting to leave:" Queer migration in Kazakhstan

• Wisconsin Intensive Summer Languages Institute Conference
  (July 2023) Napier, E., Conference Presentation:
  “Queer migration in Kazakhstan"

• European Society for Central Asian Studies Regional Conference
  (September 2023) Napier, E., Conference Presentation:
  “Queer migration in Kazakhstan"

• Central Asian Studies Network in Germany (CASNiG) Annual Conference
  (November 2023) Napier, E., Conference Presentation:
  “The queer lens and queer migration in Kazakhstan”

• British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies Annual Conference
  (April 2024) Napier, E., Conference Presentation:
  The Queer Lens on Migration in Kazakhstan

Widening Participation

• Top-Up Programme 2022-23
  'Scotland,' 'Energy' and 'Ethics of Science' courses

Visiting

• Visiting Scholar, Department of Sociology, School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan Sep 2023 - Jan 2024
• Visiting Scholar, Department of Political Science and International Relations, School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan Oct 2024 - Apr 2025

Memberships

• Central Eurasian Studies Society

Education

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Programme IMCEERES:

• International Master (IntM) Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, University of Glasgow (2022)
• Master of Arts (MA) Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia (2022)
• Master (MA) International Relations, KIMEP University, Kazakhstan (2022)

Undergraduate

• MA(Hons) Central and East European Studies and Russian Language, University of Glasgow (2022)

Selective summer schools

• Central Eurasian Studies Summer Institute, Wisconsin Intensive Summer Language Institutes, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2023. Kazakh Language. Full scholarship.
• Fukushima Ambassadors Programme, Fukushima University, 2018.

Professional experience

My professional background is wide and varied, including stints in public service, politics, as a bus driver, chauffeur, library assistant, and two years as a full member of the University's highest governing body, the University Court.