Işınsu earned a BA in International Relations from the Özyeğin University and is currently writing her master’s thesis on post-traumatic growth with a focus on gender at the Middle East Technical University, Turkey.

Işınsu joined the NCHS at the beginning of October and will spend the next two months disseminating humanitarian related research, mapping the humanitarian studies landscape, recording a podcast series, and assisting with events.

“The reason I reached out to the NCHS was exploring nuances in work culture across countries and deepening exchange of dialogue with policymakers, practitioners and researchers to broaden my horizon in approaching fundamental questions about human nature, politics, ethics, quality research and thorny development challenges,” Işınsu said.

While pursuing her bachelor’s degree, Işınsu worked as an intern at the Economic Development Foundation dedicated to informing the public and private sectors on the European Union (EU) and Turkey-EU relations. Subsequently taking part in the Accessibility Model in Sultanbeyli project under the leadership of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, she mapped accessibility of vulnerable populations to pre-schools, health units and parks facilitating the promotion of evidence-based policymaking.

Driven by curiosity and ambition to gain experience in an academic setting next to esteemed researchers, Işınsu spent an academic semester as a research assistant with varying tasks including performing literature reviews on sociology of religion.

Most recently, working as a research assistant at a non-profit think tank in Ankara, Işınsu has published research on political, socio-economic, and security dynamics in Levant, provided regular reports on international events and created database from demographic engineering to Israeli airstrikes in Syria.

The internship is made possible by the Erasmus+ traineeship program.

Işınsu can be reached at Isinsu.acar@cmi.no.