Dr. Assylbek Nurgabdeshov is Assistant Professor of Strategy and Director of Strategy Postgraduate Programmes at Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, UK. Assylbek holds PhD in Strategic Management and International Business from the University of Sheffield, UK, MBA degree from Istanbul Sehir University and B.Sc. in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from the Middle East Technical University, Turkey. Before his role at Heriot-Watt University he was Dean of Business School at Suleyman Demirel University, Dean of General Education Faculty at Almaty Management University, Research Professor, Founder and Director of HR Research Center at Narxoz University, and Head of Science and Innovation Sector at Kazakh British Technical University. He had experience of being visiting lecturer at University of Leicester, UK, Champagne School of Management, Groupe ESC Troyes, France and Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration (RISEBA), Latvia.

His recent research interests have been focused around Strategic HRM, High Performance HR Practices, International HRM, Outsourcing and Offshoring of R&D activities, Strategic Agility, Innovation strategy for emerging countries, knowledge transfer in MNCs. His research papers are published/forthcoming in journals such as Journal of Business Research, Studies in Higher Education and International Journal of Human Resource Management. He is a member of Steering Committee of Central and East European Chapter, Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), United Nations and member of Academy of International Business.