Ulzhalgas was born in Shymkent in the South of Kazakhstan. She graduated from Eurasian National University, Nur-Sultan in 2016 with a bachelor’s in chemistry. She then went on to complete her MSc in chemistry at the same university in 2018. During this time, she also had science internship in Yerevan State University and successfully combined working at school as a chemistry teacher with her master’s studies.

Ulzhalgas conducted research at The Center of Physico-Chemical Methods of Research and Analysis (CPCMRA) in Almaty where she carried out analytical control and monitoring for the identification of basic volatile organic compounds using modern sampling and preparation technologies. These included gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and data processing using bespoke software solutions from Agilent.

In 2019 she started to work as a laboratory assistant at Nazarbayev University. She was then awarded a prestigious “Bolashak” scholarship to study at the University of Bristol. Her research project is about redox-active porous materials for active carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture and conversion.

In her spare time Ulzhalgas enjoys painting, reading and travelling.