Taylor Nydam

Taylor Nydam received her bachelor’s degree in Russian and homeland security and her master’s degree in national security studies from the University of New Hampshire in the United States.  Her background in Russian and volunteer work resettling refugees from

Ukraine into the United States during the Russo-Ukraine war led her to pursue independent research on Russian migration to Kazakhstan.  Before being awarded the Fulbright grant, Taylor was studying for her master’s program and was also a research assistant.  Recently, an article of Taylor and her master’s research team was published in the American Intelligence Journal.  Taylor aspires to pursue a career in humanitarian policy focusing on refugee and migration issues. 

Taylor’s Fulbright project is studying the impact of the recent influx of Russian migrants, driven by the Russo-Ukraine war, on Kazakhstan’s central cultural value of hospitality.  She is studying how Kazakh society is responding to large-scale migration from a nation with which it shares a deep and complex history.  Simultaneously, the study is exploring the role of hospitality in facilitating the integration of Russian migrants into Kazakh society.