Our special guest is Bolys Sabitbek, a post-doctoral researcher at the Ghent Analysis & PDE Center, Ghent University. We were also honoured to be joined by Mr. Sayasat Nurbek, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who shares his perspective on the growing academic collaboration between Kazakhstan and Ghent University, the skills today's world demands, and what these two scientific communities can learn from one another. Bolys also makes the case for why mathematics matters, tracing the history and development of the field from the Soviet era through to mathematics in Kazakhstan today, and shares details of the ongoing Mirror Lab collaboration between Ghent University and Kazakhstan.
Curious about the ecosystem behind this collaboration? 🇰🇿
🤖 Alem.ai - Kazakhstan's International Center for Artificial Intelligence in Astana. A hub for the global AI community, it brings together a Museum of Singularity, an AI research university, startup incubation programs, research labs, and the home of the Mirror Laboratory: https://alem.ai/en/
🚀 Astana Hub - Central Eurasia's largest international tech park, connecting 1,800+ local and international companies and driving the region's technology growth through programs, events, and community: https://astanahub.com/en/
Together, they form the backbone of Kazakhstan's growing innovation landscape - and the setting for our latest episode. 🎧
Ghent Analysis and PDE center website: https://analysis-pde.org/
More on Bolys's research, website: https://sites.google.com/view/bolys-sabitbek
Mirror Laboratory in Kazakhstan to our Ghent Analysis & PDE Centre: https://analysis-pde.org/blog/
A special challenge for our audience - put your math skills to the test with the problem lists compiled by Erdős: https://www.erdosproblems.com/lists
Books and research works mentioned in the episode:
"Birth of A Theorem" by Cedric Villani
"Henri Poincare: A Scientific Biography" by Jeremy Gray
Vladimir Arnold in Russian, link:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/zZEHozSnalU?feature=oembed
Movie about Misterious Japanese Chalk:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/PhNUjg9X4g8?feature=oembed
About the Central Limit Theorem (related to the law of large numbers):
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/zeJD6dqJ5lo?feature=oembed
3Blue1Brown best math youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@3blue1brown/videos
Newton’s three-body problem explained - Fabio Pacucci:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/D89ngRr4uZg?feature=oembed
Designing Math ft. Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown):
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/bLSLN96Gn-w?feature=oembed
More on Game Theory: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1512.06808
Mathematical methods and human thought in the age of AI: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26524
Mathematical methods and human thought in the age of AI by Terence Tao: https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/mathematical-methods-and-human-thought-in-the-age-of-ai/
Anthropic news: https://www.anthropic.com/news/fable-mythos-access
External image credits:
Milky Way photos by https://www.instagram.com/p/DR06XwcjE0C/?img_index=5
Kolsai lake: https://caravanistan.com/kazakhstan/almaty-region/
Arkalyk launch photos: https://www.gettyimages.be/fotos/arkalyk
00:00 Intro
00:32 Meet the New Voice of Qazaq Mathematics
01:29 Was Math Discovered or Invented?
03:41 Is Math Really Hard or Just Unfairly Feared?
05:30 The Hidden Math Behind Your Everyday Decisions
11:29 How AI Is Reshaping Mathematics
19:10 UGhent University & Kazakhstan: A New Collaboration
20:03 Kazakhstan's Minister of Science on Partnering with Ghent
23:12 Mr. Sayasat Nurbek: The Skills the World Needs Now
27:13 What UGhent and Kazakhstan Can Learn From Each Other
28:40 Why Mathematics?
31:20 Math Behind the Iron Curtain: The USSR & Kazakhstan
36:20 Lab Tour: The Legendary Chalk Story & a Favourite Equation
41:58 Kazakhstan: Cradle of the Soviet Space Dream
46:03 Favourite Mathematicians, Books & Films
49:58 The Eiffel Tower Was Always About Science
51:08 Why There's No Nobel Prize in Mathematics
52:06 The Skills That Actually Matter
54:12 Advice for Final-Year PhDs
