Zhuldyz Tashmanbetova is a currently in her PhD program at the University of Washington in St. Louis, USA. Previously she graduated from Nazarbayev University’s Master of Arts in Eurasian Studies program, where she studied the history of the Church of the East in Central Asia under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Scarborough. Before that, she completed a bachelor’s degree at Kazakh National University, where she studied Archeology and Ethnology. Areas of research focus are Religious Anthropology, Archeology of Nestorian Christianity, History of the Church of the East, and Cultural Anthropology.
Zhuldyz is credited with introducing Kevin White (Head of Department) to Dr. Voyakin (Chief Researcher) in 2015, which led to the joint effort that produced the first excavations of Nestorian gravestones in Kazakhstan, and subsequently to the creation of the Department of Nestorian Studies.