Kanat Baigarin. Adviser to the President of NU, founder of NURIS.
Kanat Baigarin is a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), holding a degree in engineering physics and a PhD in plasma physics and chemistry from the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy. Since 2018, he has served as an advisor to the president of Nazarbayev University. From 2014 to 2018, he was the vice president for innovation and science at Nazarbayev University. From 2011 to 2014, he was the general director of the Nazarbayev University Research and Innovation System (NURIS) and the general director of the Nazarbayev University Center for Energy Research. He also has extensive experience in the government offices and international organizations.
1. What scientific projects are currently a priority for the university?
The university is in a transitional phase, and the tasks set by the state, the president, are also at the university's focus. In the first few years, we built up scientific potential. As shown by the latest Times Higher Education ranking, in the 13-year history of the university, we have managed to enter the top third or quarter of leading research universities.
Currently, we are considering what we want to do within the country specifically in terms of sustainable development. We set two tasks: sustainable development of the state and improving the quality of life. These need to change. How? Today's global trend is a shift in energy sources. In other words, we need to gradually move away from mineral resources because due to inefficient use of resources we cause harm to the environment. At the early stages of societal development, transitioning to alternatives that cause less harm to the environment was difficult. Now, when it exists, it is expensive.
Today, we do not use gas a lot. Gasification should be a priority in the medium term. For example, replacing coal with gas significantly changes the quality of life, especially in rural areas. Heating and cooking become entirely different and significantly improve people's lives – especially for women. On a larger scale, increasing the share of renewable energy, including nuclear energy, is becoming a trend towards carbon neutrality for the country.
Global university research should aim to create comfort and improve the standard of living.
2. Do we have NU sustainable development strategy?
The strategy and plan for sustainable development are under development, but we have already achieved a lot. For example, at the very beginning, the university used diesel fuel for heating. About 5-6 years ago, we switched to gas. It was a difficult transition, everyone was used to diesel: it is easier to transport and load. Today, after us, the city of Astana is switching to gas. And we were the first, back then: even the pipes were not laid, gas was brought from Russia in special trucks. Also, clean water: today you can see many clean water points on the campus, but we started with a couple of them (by the way, as part of the students' initiative). There are many other examples.
3. What facilities are available for students?
First, we have established the NU Office of Sustainable Development that attracts additional resources and sponsors to support student activities in implementing ideas that create comfort on campus. Students can initiate projects both with professors in the academic process and in a public organization.
Secondly, one of our subsidiaries is the Kazakhstan National Geographic Society. When we completed this project, we created the National Conservation Initiative, which deals with fundraising. Chevron started supporting the Sustainability Living Lab program. Students have the right to propose any topic because they are in a different information space, and they should be listened to and supported. Actually, the Office of Sustainable Development also started with a student proposal for paper and waste collection.
4. What is the future of renewable energy on campus?
The global idea is that a university within a city should not be a source of danger, including environmental danger. Zero emissions, greening. This is not just an ‘image thing’.
At the beginning of the university's creation, we launched pilot projects – wind stations, Shell Yurt – as demonstrations. We invited various companies to this site. When we started doing this, these were isolated cases, but now it is widespread. Such test sites were used as demonstrations, and then they were adopted for scaling and implementation across the country. Many projects are already being implemented outside the university, in companies. When it started, it was unfamiliar to the majority, but then laws supporting energy conservation and renewable sources development were designed, and all this is becoming familiar now.
5. What does the future of renewable energy on campus depend on?
I think today it will depend on the legislative measures in our country. When it becomes expensive for us to pay for electricity and water, we will gradually move to alternative solutions. The technologies themselves exist today, but there are no economically justified reasons. For the implementation of innovative ideas, even the most humane, the most important thing is economic incentive, namely financial sustainability.
The university is in a transitional phase, and the tasks set by the state, the president, are also at the university's focus. In the first few years, we built up scientific potential. As shown by the latest Times Higher Education ranking, in the 13-year history of the university, we have managed to enter the top third or quarter of leading research universities.
Currently, we are considering what we want to do within the country specifically in terms of sustainable development. We set two tasks: sustainable development of the state and improving the quality of life. These need to change. How? Today's global trend is a shift in energy sources. In other words, we need to gradually move away from mineral resources because due to inefficient use of resources we cause harm to the environment. At the early stages of societal development, transitioning to alternatives that cause less harm to the environment was difficult. Now, when it exists, it is expensive.
Today, we do not use gas a lot. Gasification should be a priority in the medium term. For example, replacing coal with gas significantly changes the quality of life, especially in rural areas. Heating and cooking become entirely different and significantly improve people's lives – especially for women. On a larger scale, increasing the share of renewable energy, including nuclear energy, is becoming a trend towards carbon neutrality for the country.
Global university research should aim to create comfort and improve the standard of living.
2. Do we have NU sustainable development strategy?
The strategy and plan for sustainable development are under development, but we have already achieved a lot. For example, at the very beginning, the university used diesel fuel for heating. About 5-6 years ago, we switched to gas. It was a difficult transition, everyone was used to diesel: it is easier to transport and load. Today, after us, the city of Astana is switching to gas. And we were the first, back then: even the pipes were not laid, gas was brought from Russia in special trucks. Also, clean water: today you can see many clean water points on the campus, but we started with a couple of them (by the way, as part of the students' initiative). There are many other examples.
3. What facilities are available for students?
First, we have established the NU Office of Sustainable Development that attracts additional resources and sponsors to support student activities in implementing ideas that create comfort on campus. Students can initiate projects both with professors in the academic process and in a public organization.
Secondly, one of our subsidiaries is the Kazakhstan National Geographic Society. When we completed this project, we created the National Conservation Initiative, which deals with fundraising. Chevron started supporting the Sustainability Living Lab program. Students have the right to propose any topic because they are in a different information space, and they should be listened to and supported. Actually, the Office of Sustainable Development also started with a student proposal for paper and waste collection.
4. What is the future of renewable energy on campus?
The global idea is that a university within a city should not be a source of danger, including environmental danger. Zero emissions, greening. This is not just an ‘image thing’.
At the beginning of the university's creation, we launched pilot projects – wind stations, Shell Yurt – as demonstrations. We invited various companies to this site. When we started doing this, these were isolated cases, but now it is widespread. Such test sites were used as demonstrations, and then they were adopted for scaling and implementation across the country. Many projects are already being implemented outside the university, in companies. When it started, it was unfamiliar to the majority, but then laws supporting energy conservation and renewable sources development were designed, and all this is becoming familiar now.
5. What does the future of renewable energy on campus depend on?
I think today it will depend on the legislative measures in our country. When it becomes expensive for us to pay for electricity and water, we will gradually move to alternative solutions. The technologies themselves exist today, but there are no economically justified reasons. For the implementation of innovative ideas, even the most humane, the most important thing is economic incentive, namely financial sustainability.
