October 30 - November 1, 2018 Pati Mamardashvili traveled to Tashkent to present at the “Social science knowledge and sustainable agricultural development along the Silk Road” conference after being invited to participate as a keynote speaker. She shared the experience of ISET as a reform model for higher education in the post-Soviet world.

In her talk, Pati presented ISET as sustainable regional model for delivering a world-class education, as well as independent research and policy analysis. Recent achievements as well as the main challenges facing ISET were addressed, after which Pati presented the work areas of the ISET Policy Institute and gave some examples of how the APRC contributes to the ongoing policy debate on agricultural development in Georgia.

The conference took place within the framework of the recently-established Structured Doctoral Programme on Sustainable Agricultural Development in Central Asia (SUSADICA). As Pati is a member of SUSADICA International Advisory Board, she also participated in the first meeting of the board held on November 2, 2018.

In addition to the conference, Pati was a member of a TV discussion panel organized by the International Press Club of Uzbekistan. The discussion featured international experts from academia, politics and nongovernment organizations, sharing their experiences in connecting science and education with decision making. Pati was also asked to comment on how ISET manages to attract Georgians to come back to their home country. She answered: “While financial incentives matter, it is more important to see that your work is recognized, you are contributing to the capacity building of new generation and you continue to grow professionally. So, the most important factor is the environment offered by a university.”