Dr. Nargiza Muratalieva is a researcher and current Research Fellow at Kansas University, USA. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and has over 15 years of experience in academic research, teaching, and media analysis. She works as an Associate Professor at the American University of Central Asia and as a Fellow at the SAIS China Research Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She also worked as editor of the CABAR.asia analytical platform at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) and has numerous publications in peer reviewed journals. A former DAAD scholar at Carl von Ossietzky University in Germany, her research focuses on geopolitics and international relations in Central Asia, China's Belt and Road Initiative, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the role of regional institutions.