Deniz Ş. Sert, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Özyeğin University
Dr. Sert obtained her B.A. from Koç University, Department of International Relations in 2000, M.Sc. in European Studies from the London School of Economics in 2001, and Ph.D. in Political Science from City University of New York in 2008. After completing her Ph.D. Dr. Sert joined Koç University Migration Research Center, MiReKoc, where she had conducted research in different projects on international migration such as TRANS-NET (EC FP7) and EUMAGINE (EC FP7). Her areas of expertise are conflict, forced migration, international migration, irregular migration, transnationalism, border management and civil society.
Çimen Günay-Erkol, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Özyeğin University
Dr. Çimen Günay-Erkol graduated from TED Ankara College Foundation High School in 1994 and received her BSc degree in Mining Engineering from Middle East Technical University in 1998. She obtained her MA in Turkish Literature from Bilkent University in 2001 and started her PhD in the same department. Between 1998-2002, she worked as a researcher at Bilkent University and gave lectures between 2001-2002. Later she moved to the Netherlands for her PhD studies. In 2008, she obtained her PhD in Literary Studies from Leiden University with her thesis focused on March 12 novels. Her fields of interest include testimonial novels (especially in relation to trauma, loss, migration, memory, and military coups in Turkey), autobiography, gender and masculinity studies. She is currently working on a project mapping out migration history of Turkey through novels (e.g., Ayla Kutlu’s novel on Balkan migrations, entitled Yedinci Bayrak).
Deniz Erkmen, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Özyeğin University
Dr. Deniz Erkmen received her B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University, and her Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Boise State University in Boise, ID between 2009-2011 and as a Lecturer at Özyeğin University in 2012. Her dissertation work concerns itself with transnationalism and cosmopolitan identities. Her research fields within migration studies are transnationalism, skilled migration, globalisation and identities.
Susan Rottmann, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Özyeğin University
Susan Rottmann obtained her B.A. degree in Comparative Religion from Cornell University in 2001, her M.A. degree in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006, and her Ph.D. degree in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012. Her research specialties are ethics, globalisation, migration, transnationalism, gender, religion and politics in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. Dr. Rottmann has received several major research grants, including a Fulbright-Hays DDRA and grants from the Social Science Research Council, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the American Research Institute in Turkey and the Institute of Turkish Studies. Between December 2017-2020, Dr. Rottmann will participate in an EU Horizon 2020 research grant for a project titled, RESPOND, which studies European migration governance. The project is led by Uppsala University and coordinated with 14 partners representing 7 academic disciplines. Dr. Rottmann will be conducting ethnographic research on migrant integration, writing the project newsletters, co-organizing scientific conferences and assisting with the creation of a documentary film.
Elif Çağla Kurtuluş, Research Assistant, Department of International Relations, Özyeğin University
Elif Çağla Kurtuluş was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1998. She graduated from 50. Year Tehran Anatolian High School in 2016. Kurtuluş is currently doing her BA. at Özyeğin University in the Department of International Relations. Kurtuluş is the co-founder and the current head of the ÖzÜ Diplomacy Club, which aims to introduce students to the art and profession of diplomacy. At the same time, Kurtuluş can use graphic design programs very well as a hobby to improve her creativity and innovation. Based on this, Kurtuluş produces all graphic designs, posters, and videos for the social media of the Diplomacy Club. She is interested in foreign policy analysis, diplomacy and migration studies, and fluent in English and Spanish.