M. Emre Gür is involved in major national and international programs, external funding, civil society, and private and public sector projects in Turkey. He works as a key expert for the European Union Sivil Düşün Program. He is the Secretary General of the Executive Board of the European Foundation for Turkey and the Turkey Representative of the Centre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE).
His main work areas are Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), civil society, social development projects, youth and women policies, and food and agricultural policies. He co-authored the book Good Practices in Youth Participation. Gür graduated from Marmara University, Department of Political Science and Public Administration. For his higher education, he worked on the Evolution of European Union Aid Policies and Millennium Development Goals at CIFE European Institute. He experienced the journey from this process to the SDGs.
His main work areas are Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), civil society, social development projects, youth and women policies, and food and agricultural policies. He co-authored the book Good Practices in Youth Participation. Gür graduated from Marmara University, Department of Political Science and Public Administration. For his higher education, he worked on the Evolution of European Union Aid Policies and Millennium Development Goals at CIFE European Institute. He experienced the journey from this process to the SDGs.
As a consultant and trainer, he works with numerous NGOs, companies, academia and international organisations on social policies and project management. With Rational Games, he provides training on negotiation techniques to many organisations in Europe and Turkey.
Jülide Erdoğan, who holds a BA in Economics from Istanbul University and an MA in Social Development Economics and Economic Growth from Marmara University, shared her knowledge and experience with future civil society workers with the “Project and Fund Development Techniques” course at Istanbul Bilgi University. In 2022, she completed Columbia Business School's ESG Investing program. She managed multi-stakeholder and participatory field projects at the Foundation for the Evaluation of Women's Work, Beyoğlu Youth Center and Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey. During her 10 years as the General Manager of the Community Volunteers Foundation, she contributed to the growth of TOG and the development of award-winning projects with her teams on civil society, youth participation, multi-stakeholder programs, sustainability and governance. In 2019, she became General Manager at Yenibirlider Association and developed strategies for new-generation leadership programs.
She serves as a jury and consultant in various non-governmental organisations and corporate social responsibility platforms. She also has responsibilities as an expert and consultant in the European Union Sivil Düşün Program, International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), and United Nations (UN) programs. She works as a mentor in The EarlyWarning Europe Mentor Academy, a European Union program. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Turkey-Europe Foundation, the Foundation for Innovative Learning Centers, and the Board of Directors of the European Association of Turkey.
She serves as a jury and consultant in various non-governmental organisations and corporate social responsibility platforms. She also has responsibilities as an expert and consultant in the European Union Sivil Düşün Program, International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), and United Nations (UN) programs. She works as a mentor in The EarlyWarning Europe Mentor Academy, a European Union program. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Turkey-Europe Foundation, the Foundation for Innovative Learning Centers, and the Board of Directors of the European Association of Turkey.
Prof. Dr. Deniz Sert, İstanbul Özyeğin Üniversitesi Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölüm Başkanıdır. ÖzÜ'ye katılmadan önce, Koç Üniversitesi Göç Araştırmaları Merkezi'nde (MiReKoc) Kıdemli Araştırma Görevlisi olarak çalışmıştır. Türkiye'deki ve küresel düzeydeki göç konularında uzman olan Sert, yurt içinde ve yurt dışında çeşitli kurumlarda ders vermiş ve araştırmalar yapmıştır. Koç Üniversitesi'nden Uluslararası İlişkiler alanında lisans diploması, London School of Economics'ten Avrupa Birliği Politikası alanında yüksek lisans diploması ve City University of New York'tan Siyaset Bilimi alanında yüksek lisans diploması almıştır. Doktorasını Karşılaştırmalı Politika alanında City University of New York'ta tamamlamıştır. Türkiye ve bölgeleri içinde uluslararası göç konusunda kapsamlı yayınları bulunmaktadır. 2019-2022 yılları arasında Göç ve Hareketlilik üzerine Jean Monnet Kürsüsü (CHARM) sahibidir. Ayrıca, IOM'un saygın SSCI dergisi International Migration'da editörlük yapmaktadır.
Kale Group Head of Corporate Communications and Impact Investments
After graduating from Galatasaray University's Department of International Relations, Rana Birden continued her academic career by completing the European Union Master's Program at the same university. In 1999, Ms. Birden started her professional career and has played pioneering roles in public relations, civil society, and impact investing in her 24-year career.
After starting her career as a Senior Research Specialist at the Economic Development Foundation, Birden worked as a Deputy Project Coordinator and Grant Specialist at the European Union Civil Society Development Program and as EU Research and Documentation Coordinator at Bahçeşehir University. She also served as the Director of the Foundation for Social Participation and Development, where she carried out important projects in this field.
With her extensive knowledge of civil society, she has consulted for prestigious organisations such as the Sabancı Foundation, Third Sector Foundation of Turkey, and Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Between 2012 and 2014, she served as the General Manager of the Global Relations Forum Association. Between 2014 and 2016, she assumed a strategic role as a member of the Turkey Europe Foundation and a C20 Executive Board member.
Since 2016, she has managed Corporate Communications and Impact Investments at Kale Group, implementing social responsibility projects and innovative business models. As a leader who, in her own words, feeds on “responsibility, not problems,” she has demonstrated her vision of mobilising the spirit of civil initiative at every step.
Since 2016, Rana Birden has been leading Kale Group's Corporate Communications, Public Relations, Community Management, Impact Investments and Social Benefit-oriented projects while also serving as the General Manager of Dr. (h.c) İbrahim Bodur Kaleseramik Education, Health and Social Aid Foundation (KSV).
Seda Yalçın Ulusoy founded the Turkey operations branch of Weber Shandwick, one of the world's leading communications consultancies, in 2013 and has been advising global and local companies in the areas of communications, public relations, reputation management, sustainability and government relations for over 11 years.
Yalçın started her professional career in telecommunications, working as a regulation specialist at FusionTel Turkey and then as a publications coordinator at the European Foundation for Europe in Turkey. In 2005, she moved to Brussels for an assignment at the European Commission. Afterwards, she worked at Blueprint Partners and Interel consulting companies, advising many global companies on public relations and strategic communications.
In 2010, she decided to continue her career in Turkey, a more dynamic market and joined Grayling as Director of Public Affairs and Business Development. She then took the agency's helm, advising global and local companies on public relations and public affairs.
Seda has extensive experience developing and executing local and regional lobbying and communications campaigns and has managed large communications campaigns covering multiple European markets. Mr. Yalçın has advised many CEOs on government relations and strategic communications and has written numerous opinion pieces for her clients throughout her career.
Yalçın graduated from Marmara University with a degree in Public Administration in French. She completed her master's degree in European Union and International Relations at Institut Europeen des Hautes Etudes Internationales in France and European Union Economics at Marmara University European Community Institute and her executive MBA at Bradford University in England. She is currently pursuing her second undergraduate degree in Geography at Istanbul University.
Seda Yalçın Ulusoy is a member of the Board of Directors of the European Union Association of Turkey and the European Foundation for Europe in Turkey, as well as a member of Yuvam Dünya and the Association of Women on the Board of Directors (YKKD).
In addition to her mother tongue, Turkish, Yalçın is fluent in English and French and speaks German, Dutch and Spanish. She is married and has two children.
Yalçın started her professional career in telecommunications, working as a regulation specialist at FusionTel Turkey and then as a publications coordinator at the European Foundation for Europe in Turkey. In 2005, she moved to Brussels for an assignment at the European Commission. Afterwards, she worked at Blueprint Partners and Interel consulting companies, advising many global companies on public relations and strategic communications.
In 2010, she decided to continue her career in Turkey, a more dynamic market and joined Grayling as Director of Public Affairs and Business Development. She then took the agency's helm, advising global and local companies on public relations and public affairs.
Seda has extensive experience developing and executing local and regional lobbying and communications campaigns and has managed large communications campaigns covering multiple European markets. Mr. Yalçın has advised many CEOs on government relations and strategic communications and has written numerous opinion pieces for her clients throughout her career.
Yalçın graduated from Marmara University with a degree in Public Administration in French. She completed her master's degree in European Union and International Relations at Institut Europeen des Hautes Etudes Internationales in France and European Union Economics at Marmara University European Community Institute and her executive MBA at Bradford University in England. She is currently pursuing her second undergraduate degree in Geography at Istanbul University.
Seda Yalçın Ulusoy is a member of the Board of Directors of the European Union Association of Turkey and the European Foundation for Europe in Turkey, as well as a member of Yuvam Dünya and the Association of Women on the Board of Directors (YKKD).
In addition to her mother tongue, Turkish, Yalçın is fluent in English and French and speaks German, Dutch and Spanish. She is married and has two children.
Senem Aydın-Düzgit is a Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Sabanci University and the Director of the Istanbul Policy Center. She is also a non-resident fellow at the Institute for European Policymaking at Bocconi University. In 2024-2025, she was the Pierre Keller Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and in 2023-2024 was based at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin as a Richard von Weizsacker Fellow. She holds a PhD from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a BA from Bogaziçi University. Her main research interests include identity, history, and discourse in the study of international politics, with an empirical focus on European and Turkish foreign policies and, more recently, the nexus between domestic and foreign policies of middle powers in the changing international order. She has also conducted academic and policy-relevant research in international democracy support, both in the context of European foreign policy through enlargement and Turkish foreign policy. Her articles have appeared in many leading international relations and European politics journals, including the European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of Democracy, International Affairs, West European Politics and Third World Quarterly. She is the author of Turkey and the European Union (with Nathalie Tocci) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and Constructions of European Identity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012; Turkish edition 2015). She is a council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a fellow of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE), a member of the Carnegie Rising Democracies Network, and an academic advisory board member of the Institüt für Europaische Politik. She is the co-editor of the Future of Europe book series (Springer). She sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of European Integration, Journal of Language and Politics, South European Society and Politics, and New Perspectives on Turkey.
Born in 1980, Yasemin Erkut is the Head of Public Policy at Amazon Web Services.
After completing her high school education at Red Cross Nordic United World College in Norway with a Royal Norwegian scholarship, Erkut received her bachelor's degree in International Relations and Economics from Mount Holyoke College in the USA with a scholarship. In 2002, Yasemin Erkut became the first Turkish person to serve in the Office of the Chair of the Democratic Party in the US Congress and received a scholarship to study International Trade at American University.
Upon returning to Turkey, she worked as a senior advisor at the US Embassy for 9 years, improving bilateral trade relations and increasing mutual investments and public relations. After this position, she continued her professional life as the Regional Manager of Government and Corporate Affairs at Herbalife International, where she was responsible for activities in Azerbaijan, Greece, and Turkey. Between 2014 and 2019, Yasemin Erkut worked as Corporate Affairs Department Manager at Mey|Diageo, where she led corporate communications and sustainability projects and the construction and implementation of public communication strategies. Between 2019 and 2021, she served as MSD Health Policy Director.
Since November 2021, Yasemin Erkut has served as a company representative in various platforms and commissions, including the International Investors Association (YASED), the American Business Association, the British Chamber of Commerce, the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), is a founding member and Vice President of the Public Communication and Corporate Relations Management Association.
After completing her high school education at Red Cross Nordic United World College in Norway with a Royal Norwegian scholarship, Erkut received her bachelor's degree in International Relations and Economics from Mount Holyoke College in the USA with a scholarship. In 2002, Yasemin Erkut became the first Turkish person to serve in the Office of the Chair of the Democratic Party in the US Congress and received a scholarship to study International Trade at American University.
Upon returning to Turkey, she worked as a senior advisor at the US Embassy for 9 years, improving bilateral trade relations and increasing mutual investments and public relations. After this position, she continued her professional life as the Regional Manager of Government and Corporate Affairs at Herbalife International, where she was responsible for activities in Azerbaijan, Greece, and Turkey. Between 2014 and 2019, Yasemin Erkut worked as Corporate Affairs Department Manager at Mey|Diageo, where she led corporate communications and sustainability projects and the construction and implementation of public communication strategies. Between 2019 and 2021, she served as MSD Health Policy Director.
Since November 2021, Yasemin Erkut has served as a company representative in various platforms and commissions, including the International Investors Association (YASED), the American Business Association, the British Chamber of Commerce, the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), is a founding member and Vice President of the Public Communication and Corporate Relations Management Association.
