Simon Pawley grew up and studied in the UK. He has experience in a range of higher education institutions and roles. He spent two and a half years as a College Lecturer in Modern History at Oriel College, University of Oxford. He subsequently worked at the publisher Oxford University Press, leading a market research project and working in journals production. He then moved to Nazarbayev University in Astana, as an Instructor in History, primarily teaching the History of Kazakhstan. He came to Tashkent in September 2021 to join BMU as a Lecturer in Social Studies and created modules in Global Economic History, Globalization and Global Issues, as well as teaching Academic Skills. He now serves as Dean of the Foundation Programme.

He pursued postgraduate research in modern Russian and Soviet history, with a focus on histories of medicine, health, and mass culture. He has published an article on this subject in the Oxford University Press journal Historical Research. Since coming to Central Asia, he has pursued a growing interest in this region’s history and translated a book on the subject from Russian – Stalinism in Kazakhstan: History, Memory, and Representation.

Simon Pawley received a Master’s of Research (MRes) degree in East European Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in History, both from University College London. He has been awarded Fellowship of the UK Higher Education Academy (now called Advance HE).