Ecological educational programme in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
The application deadline for the six month Aral School pilot, beginning in January 2026, is October 5, 2025.
Commissioned by Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation and with bioregional designer Jan Boelen as its Programme Director, this “laboratory for our global future” will advance new solutions for the Aral Sea Region and wider world, facing the impacts of broken ecosystems and climate change.
The Aral School, headed by Chairperson Gayane Umerova, sits within the broader mission of the Aral Culture Summit—a new enterprise dedicated to the social and environmental transformation of the Karakalpakstan region through art, culture, design, and science.
“We are extremely proud to announce the launch of the Aral School, which aims to tackle crucial global topics that require visionary responses from the next generation of creative and transdisciplinary talent,” says Gayane Umerova, Chairperson of ACDF and Founder of the Aral School. “These issues are felt particularly acutely around the Aral Sea. This will be the first initiative of its kind in Central Asia and the key educational pillar within our Aral Culture Summit framework.”
The Aral Sea is an inland lake situated in Central Asia within and around Uzbekistan’s borders, historically one of the world's largest saltwater bodies. Once the size of Switzerland, the Aral Sea has shrunk to just 10% of its original size over the past 60 years, creating an environmental and cultural crisis that has disrupted traditional communities and the local economy, causing younger generations to lose connection with their land and heritage.
The primary objectives of the Aral School are threefold: ecological restoration and sustainability, economic development, and cultural cohesion and social empowerment. The pilot edition will focus on two specific issues: food and water. These will be addressed by two teams of 10 local, regional and international postgraduates each, guided by two to four mentors with deep expertise in the topics.
Over a six month period (January–June 2026), the selected cohort will apply a four-step bioregional method developed exclusively by the Aral School: identify undervalued local resources, connect them through design and prototyping, implement solutions with local communities, and share this knowledge globally to regenerate broken ecosystems. A midterm presentation at Salone del Mobile in April 2026, followed by an exhibition and publication at the next Aral Culture Summit in late 2026 will offer comprehensive reflections on the Aral School’s journey and future impact. The resulting prototypes and design solutions are to be incorporated back into the ecology, culture and economy of the Republic of Karakalpakstan in Uzbekistan.
The application deadline for the six month Aral School pilot, beginning in January 2026, is October 5, 2025. aralschool.uz / @aral.school.
