Sebnem Koser Akcapar

Sebnem Koser Akcapar serves as Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey, and is the founding Director of the Center for Asian Studies (KUASIA). Her academic trajectory includes a post-doctoral visiting fellowship at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of International Migration, directorship of Georgetown's Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies (2011-2012), and visiting professorships at universities in New Delhi, India (2013-2015) focused on diaspora and migration research.

Education:

• PhD from Katholieke Universitat Leuven, Belgium, examining social networks in irregular migrant flows and survival strategies in transit countries.

Research Interests: Her scholarly work integrates sociology of religion, religious minorities, and gender identity with critical migration studies, specializing in asylum systems, labor migration patterns, and diaspora formations. She maintains a regional focus on Muslim communities across Europe, North America, and South Asia through comparative frameworks developed during her New Delhi research tenure.

Teaching and Leadership: Dr. Akcapar has instructed graduate seminars on Gender and Migration, Muslim Immigrants in Western Europe and North America, and Muslim Communities in the USA at Georgetown University. As KUASIA's founding director, she oversees the center's research agenda while maintaining her association with the Sussex Asia Centre as an affiliated academic.