Medina Aitieva is a postgraduate student in Sociology at the University of Manchester where she was awarded a research studentship from the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC). Medina graduated from the Sociology Department of the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in 2001. She received her MA from the Ball State University, USA in 2003 where her research focused on the gender and ethnic differences in the migration of young adults in Kyrgyzstan. Her subsequent research interests have been in gender issues, bride kidnapping, family formation and migration, young people and values in transition, youth and technology, and methodological problems of doing research. Before starting her PhD, Medina taught sociology at AUCA for seven years, where she also chaired the Department. Her doctoral research will look at the transformative processes affecting family structure, roles and responsibilities, shifting values around young people’s courtship, marriage, childcare, healthcare and security due to extensive outmigration from Kyrgyzstan. The dissertation will emphasize on epistemological difficulties of researching the region.