معرفی
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Volkan İpek serves as a faculty member at Yeditepe University's Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences within the Department of Political Science and International Relations. Holding a PhD from Bilkent University, he has been actively teaching courses including African Society and Politics, Turkish Foreign Policy, and Political Ethics since 2017, contributing significantly to international relations scholarship with a focus on Africa-Turkey dynamics.
Dr. İpek completed his undergraduate studies in International Relations at Bilkent University (1999-2004) followed by an integrated PhD in Political Science at the same institution (2004-2015), where his doctoral thesis examined Morocco's quest for European Community membership through post-colonial theory.
His research centers on African Studies and Turkish Foreign Policy, particularly analyzing Turkey's diplomatic engagement with Sub-Saharan Africa, migration governance, and EU-Africa relations. He employs interdisciplinary and post-colonial frameworks to investigate political identity formation, humanitarian responses, and emerging power dynamics, with notable contributions to understanding Turkey's soft power expansion in Africa.
Analysis of his 2018-2024 publications reveals intensifying focus on contemporary African challenges including pandemic response (Ebola), counterterrorism strategies, sports diplomacy (FIFA World Cup), and Sahel region politics. His works demonstrate methodological diversity spanning theoretical analyses, case studies on Somalia and Ethiopia, and multi-volume regional assessments.
Dr. İpek has supervised four master's theses on migration patterns, humanitarian aid comparisons, and counterterrorism approaches in Africa. He has contributed as researcher to three externally funded projects: Supporting Capacities of the Presidency of Migration Management (2023), Supporting Development of Return Counselling Capacities in Türkiye (2022), and Türkiye's Migration Management Support Project (2019-2020), all addressing EU-Turkey migration cooperation.
