As of July 2026, Aidana is a Government Fellow at the UNU-EGOV.
Aidana Akessina is a Senior Research Fellow at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (KazISS) under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where she has worked in the Department of Strategic Analysis since 2019. She also served as an editor of Central Asia’s Affairs, the Institute’s quarterly scientific and analytical journal. Prior to joining KazISS, Aidana worked at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and participated in several election observation missions with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR). She was also an Exchange Research Fellow at the Advanced Social and Political Research Institute of the University of Latvia and a Lane Kirkland Fellow at the University of Wrocław, Poland.
Her research and professional interests include digital governance, public policy and youth policy. She has contributed to monitoring and evaluation projects focused on digital governance, including assessments of electronic petition platforms and e-government services for older adults.
Aidana was a member of the working group of the Ministry of Information and Social Development that contributed to drafting the National Youth Policy Concept 2023–2029, with a particular focus on culture and digital rights. Throughout her career, she has participated in and spoken at numerous international conferences and professional forums, including the Harvard College Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR), the OSCE-UNODA Scholarship for Peace and Security Programme, and events organized by the OSCE Academy.
Aidana has served as a mentor in the Girls for Girls Central Asia mentorship programme, supported by the OSCE and the European Union. She also mentors participants in the annual KazISS Young Experts Support Programme. In addition, she is a member of the alumni network of the School of Analytics under the Senate of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the AI and Digital Policy Network of the Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP).
Aidana holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and a Master of Arts in Political Science from Karaganda State University, Kazakhstan. She is currently a PhD candidate in Political Science at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University in Astana, Kazakhstan. During her studies, she has participated in academic mobility programmes in Lithuania and Italy.