Manuscript Heritage Meets Artificial Intelligence: Registration, Restoration, and Digital Research in Kazakhstan

Since 2025, an international consortium comprising Astana IT University, Gylym Ordasy, Khoja Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University has been implementing the "Manuscript Heritage of Kazakhstan: Registration, Restoration, Scientific Cataloging, Digitization, and Comprehensive Codicological Research" (2025–2027) project, which aims to create a unified national registry and electronic database of Kazakhstan's manuscript heritage in Eastern languages. Astana IT University leads the core technological thrust, engineering advanced IT infrastructure that bridges historical humanities with computational science: developing specialized Kraken OCR models for handwritten Chagatay texts, building annotated corpora and domain-adapted LLMs, deploying Blockchain-verified digital repositories for provenance, and designing IoT-monitored «Smart Archival Box Systems» for precision microclimate preservation. At the workshop, Astana IT University researchers will share their interim breakthroughs and engineering architectures. 

2:00-2:15: Opening Remarks & Welcome Addresses 

• Nargis Kassenova, PhD, Senior Fellow and Director, Program on Central Asia, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
• Altair Akhmetov, Chairman of the Board – Rector, Astana IT University

2:15- 4:00: All-Day Session

"Preserving Kazakhstan’s Manuscript Heritage: An Integrated Ecosystem from Physical Preservation to AI and Blockchain": Beibit Abdikenov, PhD, Director of Science & Innovation Center “Artificial Intelligence” and Principal Investigator, Astana IT University

"An Intelligent Manuscript Management and Analysis System Based on Blockchain and Cryptographic Technologies": Didar Yedilkhan, PhD, Director of Science and Innovation Center “Smart City” and Lead Researcher, Astana IT University