The seventh Yessenov Data Lab (YDL) educational intensive for data analysts was held in Almaty. It was organized by AlmaU and the Shakhmardan Yessenov Science and Education Foundation. The four-week Summer School brought together 20 competition winners selected from 159 applicants across Kazakhstan.
The YDL students worked with cutting-edge tools, from GPT and Claude to Jupyter Notebook and Codex. They built projects based on real data, developed their own AI agents, and explored technologies such as vibe coding, large language models, machine learning, and NLP. The first two weeks of classes were held online, conducted by renowned Kazakhstani Doctors of Science, Professors Kuanysh Abeshev and Timur Bakibayev. The final two weeks took place offline at AlmaU, featuring guest expert lecturers Saed Hussain (UK) and Carl Illustrisimo (USA).
Grigoriy Lee, Program Manager at the Yessenov Foundation, noted that the Foundation traditionally fully covered the students’ training, accommodation, and meals. It also organized a team building event in the Almaty mountains for all participants and instructors. Lee added that he highly appreciates AlmaU’s significant contribution to YDL, concluding that without such strong support, the project simply could not have been implemented.
Assel Aryn, Vice-Rector for Academic Development at AlmaU, spoke at the closing ceremony.
“Universities and schools like YDL are about much more than just knowledge. They are the environments that you create yourselves, where you exchange knowledge and join the Yessenov Foundation community,” said Assel Aryn.
Galimzhan Yessenov, the founder of the Foundation and philanthropist, summed up the outcomes of the Summer School.
“We are pleased with the outcomes. Every YDL graduate from previous years has already proven that they are capable of thinking more broadly and working more effectively. The new graduates are keeping pace – they will not be the ones looking for jobs; jobs will be looking for them. For our Foundation, for them, and for the country, this is a step forward,” said Galimzhan Yessenov.
The Outcomes:
– 19 new data analysis specialists joined the YDL alumni community, which now includes more than 130 graduates from across Kazakhstan.
– The winners include students and young researchers from various cities and universities across the country, from AlmaU to Nazarbayev University.
– The Program helped participants develop skills in big data analysis, machine learning, and working with language models, as well as taught them how to build their own AI agents.
Thus, YDL – a Summer School for Data Analysts running since 2018 – has once again confirmed its status as one of Kazakhstan’s key educational platforms in the fields of Data Science and machine learning.