Experts Database

Damla Bayraktar Aksel is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Bahcesehir University (Istanbul) and a Research Associate at Migration Research Center at Koc University (MiReKoc). She previously held the position of postdoctoral researcher and coordinator at MiReKoc. She received her PhD in Political Science and International Relations from Koc University. Aksel holds an M.A. degree in Public Policy at Sciences Po Paris and B.A. degree in Sociology from Galatasaray University. Her research focuses on international migration, migration governance, transnationalism, diasporas, irregular migration, EU-Turkey relations in relation to international migration. Aksel is the author of "Home States and Homeland Politics: Interactions between the Turkish State and its Emigrants in France and the United States" (2019).

Gender, environment and migration expert

I am Associate Professor of History of Christianity at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. I am currently coordinator of the Horizon 2020 Project ITHACA - Interconnecting History and Archives for Migrant Agency (GA 101004539: https://ithacahorizon.eu/). My fields of interest are: cultural history, Early Modern history, Digital humanities and migrations in a cultural perspective.

I am a PhD researcher at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, and I am working on forced displacement and conflict. In addition, I am an Assistant Professor (on study leave) at the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. I received my bachelor's degree (BSS (Hons)) and master's degree (MSS) from the same department. I also did my MPhil from the Department of International Relations at Jadavpur University, India. Some of my research interests include migration and conflict, ethnicity and conflict, minorities, ethnic conflict management and resolution, prolonged conflict, and terrorism. My recently published article and book chapters are 'Is Bhasan Char Island, Noakhali district, Bangladesh, a sustainable site for the relocated Rohingya displaced people’ '(SN Social Sciences, 1(277) (2021) https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00281-9) and ‘Sustainable Rohingya Repatriation in Myanmar: Some Criteria to Flow’ (Uddin, Nasir, ed. (2022), The Rohingya Crisis: Human Rights Issues, Policy Concerns and Burden Sharing. New Delhi: Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd.).

METU-Sociology 2013

Ankara University- Migration Studies MA

Boğaziçi University- Sociology MA

Mohamad Al-Ashmar is an International Relations doctoral researcher at the University of St Andrews (UK) and affiliated with the Centre for Syrian Studies (CSS), School of International Relations. Previously worked as Policy Fellow and Research Assistance at the European University Institute (Middle East Directions Programme), and Research Associate at the Syrian Centre for Policy Research. He is also a humanitarian practitioner and professional and has over 10 years of diverse experiences and roles in the international development agencies, NGOs, and programmes related to the Syrian humanitarian crisis, civic spaces, migration, protection, livelihoods, and development issues in the Levant region. His main research interest include migration, diaspora, political economy, development, forced displacement and Arab region politics.