A 2017 graduate of Master’s Programme Financial Economics, Nurdaulet Abilov has stepped up to the position of Kazakhstan’s lead quantitative macroeconomic analyst and is in charge of Nazarbayev University’s Economic Modelling Development Center. In this interview, Nurdaulet reveals why Southern Europe makes a perfect place for studying econometrics, how one can develop a passion for economics by lending money to family, and what anti-crisis strategies are being currently developed by Nazarbayev University.