Biography
Elif joined the Von Hügel Institute in summer 2014 as a post-doctoral research assistant in the project “The relevance of Catholic social thought and practice in the field of migration and asylum policy in the UK”. She holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge. Her doctoral thesis is titled “Political Debates, Policy Objectives and Outcomes in British and Italian Immigration Politics, 1997-2010” (supervised by Dr Julie Smith and Dr Sara Silvestri). In her dissertation, Elif analysed how the effects of immigration on receiving states and societies are predominantly conceptualised by party political actors during and after general elections, and assessed what the impact of prevalent rhetorical framings of immigration are on legislation passed in two of the major immigrant-receiving European countries. Previously, Elif earned an M.A. degree from the Department of Political Science, University of Leiden (The Netherlands) and a B.A. from the Department of International Relations, University of Bilkent (Ankara). She was a visiting scholar at the European University Institute (Florence) and the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) (Oxford).
Elif previously worked as an associate expert in The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) (Ankara), and also as a researcher in the project titled ‘Four Decades of European Union Politics towards Turkey’ while being based at The Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael (The Hague). She also has teaching experience as undergraduate supervisor and presented her research in various seminars, workshops and international conferences.
Research
Elif’s research interests and experience include politicisation of immigration, UK and Italian immigration politics, political discourse formation, and development of immigration control policies in Europe. She has supervised and published on European politics, politics of immigration control in the UK and Italy, and populist right-wing parties.
Publications
- 2018. “Migration in the Euro-Mediterranean Area: Lampedusa and beyond”, in Caroline Zickgraf, Hassan Bousetta and Laure-Anne Bernes (eds.), Migration in the Western Mediterranean: Space, Mobility and Borders (Routledge), 2018, ISBN 9781138101715 (hardback).
- 2017. “What Prospects for Change to Achieve a Sustainable EU Migration Policy?”, EuropeNow, online monthly journal published by the Council for European Studies (CES) at Columbia University, published on 2 October, available at http://www.europenowjournal.org/2017/09/30/what-prospects-for-change-to-achieve-a-sustainable-eu-migration-policy/,2017.
- 2016. Co-authored (with Christopher Hill and Sara Silvestri), “Migration and the challenges of Italian multiculturalism”. Italian Politics: Governing under Constraint, 31(1): 225-242, DOI: 10.3167/ip.2016.310114, 2016 (Online ISSN:23267259).
- 2016. Co-authored (with Christopher Hill and Sara Silvestri), “Il fenomeno migratorio e i problemi del multiculturalismo in Italia” (Migration and the challenges of Italian multiculturalism), in Maurizio Carbone and Simona Piattoni (eds), Politica in Italia/Italian Politics yearbook (Milan: Il Mulino), 2016, ISBN-13: 978-88-15-26622-4.
- 2017. Selected Review Essays Review of Jeremy Carrette and Hugh Miall (eds.) (2017), ‘Religion, NGOs and the United Nations: Visible and Invisible Actors in Power’, Reviews in Religion and Theology, 25 (1): 35- 37, DOI:10.1111/rirt.13133, 2018.
- 2016. Review of Bettina Westle and Paolo Segatti (eds.) (2016), ‘European Identity in the Context of National Identity: Questions of Identity in Sixteen European Countries in the Wake of the Financial Crisis’, Journal of Common Market Studies 55 (4): 946-947, DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12593, 2017.
- 2015. 'The Italian left and Italy’s (evolving) foreign policy of immigration controls'. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 20 (3): 377-397, DOI: 10.1080/1354571X.2015.1026149
- 2015. 'Politics of restriction in the Euro-Mediterranean area: Lampedusa and beyond' Politics in Spires, published on 13 May.
- 'Migration in the Euro-Mediterranean Area: Lampedusa and Beyond', in Caroline Zickgraf, Hassan Bousetta, Lauranne Bernes (eds), Migration, Mobility and Borders in the Western Mediterranean: Enduring and Emerging Issues in the Context of the Arab Spring (Routledge) (forthcoming).
- 2012. 'Managing Skilled Economic Migration in Europe: Debates and Policy Outcomes'. Institute of Public Affairs (Instytut Spraw Publicznych; ISP) Research Report-Policy Paper Series, Warsaw, Poland.
- 2012. 'Exclusionary Rhetoric Expansionist Policies? Right-wing Parties and Immigration Policy-making in Italy'. COMPAS Working Paper Series, Oxford, UK, available at <https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/publications/working-papers/wp-12-95/>.
- 2011. Review of Giuseppe Ieraci (2008) ‘Governments and Parties in Italy: Parliamentary Debates, Investiture Votes and Policy Positions (1994-2006)’. Bulletin of Italian Politics 3 (1): 206-208. ISSN: 1759- 30771.
- 2011. Review of Beyza C. Tekin (2010) ‘Representations and Othering in Discourse: The Construction of Turkey in the EU Context’. Journal of Common Market Studies 49 (5): 1143. ISSN: 0021-9886; Online ISSN: 1468- 5965.
