Dr. Aigerim Shilibekova
Dr. Aigerim Shilibekova is an Associate Professor of Strategy and the founding Director of the Centre for Teaching Excellence at University Canada West (UCW). She brings more than 15 years of experience in higher education leadership, instructional design and institutional development. Her work focuses on designing inclusive and future-ready learning systems that connect pedagogy, innovation and strategic capacity building. At UCW, she teaches MBA courses in Strategic Management, Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Dr. Shilibekova was a visiting scholar at Harvard University from 2013 to 2014 and completed the Executive Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her academic background includes a PhD in Political Science from Eurasian National University, an MA in International Relations from Istanbul University and a BA in Economics with Honors from Taraz State University.
She is currently pursuing a second PhD in Educational Technology and Learning Design at Simon Fraser University. She also holds a certificate in Teaching with Business Cases from Harvard Business Publishing (2023) and a microcredential in Teaching with AI from EDUCAUSE (2025), reflecting her commitment to continuous learning and pedagogical innovation.
Dr. Shilibekova is listed as an Academic Partner of the AI in Education Research Hub (AIEOU) at the University of Oxford (https://aieou.web.ox.ac.uk/academic-partners), where she contributes to global research on inclusive AI integration and ethical governance in education. In 2025, she authored a rapid response paper for the MIT AI + Open Education Initiative, titled “Addressing Challenges in Faculty Professional Development: UDL Training through AI-Enhanced OER in a Non-English Context.” She presented this work during the MIT Public Speaker Series on Professional Education and the Judicious Use of AI.
She currently leads stakeholder analysis and engagement study in Vancouver as the Principal Investigator for Mosaic II of the Urban Resilience and Sustainability Alliance (URSA) (https://www.ursaresearch.org/team-3). She also serves as a Research Fellow on the SSHRC-funded REACH project (https://www.sfu.ca/reach/research-team.html), contributing to research on inclusive education for refugee children with disabilities and supporting faculty development through equity-centered instructional design.
As a Knowledge Philanthropist with Vantage Point, she supports nonprofit organizations across British Columbia through strategic facilitation and capacity-building for inclusive lifelong learning. In 2025, she moderated the national panel on AI, Human Rights and Education for the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of British Columbia, helping to advance dialogue on digital equity, labor, and institutional ethics in the age of AI.
Fluent in seven languages, she brings a multilingual and equity-informed perspective to academic practice and research. Her work is guided by the principle: “Learn wisely, reflect deeply and lead strategically.”
