At ERG I research enrolment in early childhood education in Turkey using the Turkish Demographic and Health Survey. I also study the determinants of educational attainment in Turkey as measured by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data.

From 2015 to 2016 I was a research fellow on a Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) grant for foreign researchers. My research initiated at Bogaziçi explores how marriage patterns are affected by socioeconomic development. In particular, using the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), I study the transition from polygamy to monogamy in Uganda, Malawi and Ethiopia.

One of my research streams explores if Turkey is experiencing an onset of a "quiet revolution" transforming Turkish women’s employment, education and family lives, along the lines of Claudia Goldin’s thesis on American women in 1970s. I ask if Turkish women are starting to mark a departure from passive actors who take the income and time allocation of other family members as given, to active participants who bargain in the household and labour market. For this purpose I study Turkish data on marriage, divorce, fertility, labour market attachment, education and social norms.

At Galatasaray I taught two advanced courses - Family Economics and Gender Economics. The main purpose of my Family Economics course is to teache economic theory and empirical evidence on how decisions in families are made and what their consequences are at the societal level. We look at how families have evolved, how they operate within a specific socio-economic and cultural environment and how they transmit culture themselves. We study the importance of upbringing by reading the work on nature and nature. At the micro level we explore how families are formed and dissolved, how they assign duties and obligations, how they make decisions. At the macro level we explore the interaction between family decisions and economic growth over the period of demographic transition. We put particular focus on how families propagate inequality in the society, and the role that public policy may play to alleviate it. Throughout the course we explore different geographies – both developed and developing countries.My Gender Economics course looks at the changing nature of the gendered opportunities and outcomes around the world until the present day, and revisits economic theory and empirical work to understand what drives differences in the welfare of men and women. Reference to demography and economics of family, labour and development form the basis of this course. Gender-related outcomes (such as labor force participation, education, fertility) are discussed and presented as the responses of agents and households to the demographic conditions, both formal and informal institutions and the functioning and structure of markets. At the end we gain the picture of the interplay of women’s endowments, opportunities and agency, and how they determine gendered economic outcomes. Finally, we question whether the efficiency justification for women's empowerment does not lend itself to a new instrumental treatment of women in our societies.

LDC IV Monitor is a joint initiative of the OECD Development Centre (Paris, France), Commonwealth Secretariat (London, UK), Centre for Policy Dialogue (Dhaka, Bangladesh), International Centre for Trade and Development (Geneva Switzerland), Fondation pour le ètudes et recherches sur le développement international (Clermont-Ferrand, France), Economic and Social Research Foundation (Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania) and Galatasaray University (Istanbul, Turkey), monitoring progress in the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) which stemmed from the Fourth United Nations Conferences on LDCs (UN-LDC IV) in 2011. It works closely with the UN-OHRLLS and UN-DESA.I set up the initiative and coordinated the preparation of its strategy, work programme, budget and PR. Subsequently, I coordinated the preparation of Monitor's first analytical volume, containing 12 scholarly contributions addressing a wide spectrum of issues related to economic progress in LDCs. Themes included the articulation of a composite IPoA index, building of productive capacity, trade in goods and services, delivery of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), flows of different forms of development finance and consequences of climate change. The report was launched at the UN, New York, on 15 October 2014.In the process, I liaised with partners and Chairman, reviewed documents, articles and chapters for publication, sourced external contributors to the report, liaised with external stakeholders such as international organisations, UN bodies, academia, think tanks and NGOs, communicated with partners with respect to dialogues and outreach activities, researched and wrote stories, insights, briefs.

I established and coordinated a network of think tanks and research centres from developing, emerging and member countries, advising the OECD on development policy with aim to forward the voices of the Global South; with the Development Cooperation Directorate (DCD) I co-organized the Global Forum on Development (GFD), the only OECD forum devoted to development and promoting dialogue between OECD and non-OECD governments, and their stakeholders; I was in charge of the LDC-related dialogue and outreach, and prepared the OECD’s contribution to the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (UNLDC-IV).

Modelled the determinants of unemployment and labour force participation in OECD countries; examined the challenges of aging and the sustainability of social security systems; prepared policy recommendations for the Belgian Regional Policy Office.

Investigated the impact on macroeconomic and labour market outcomes, of labour taxation, capital-skill complementarities, technological progress and wage formation; consulted the Belgian Federal Policy Office on the programme in the area of low skilled unemployment in Belgium.

Assisted the unit in charge of the financial services strategy in the European Union; examined the degree of transposition and application of legislation under the Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP) in the existing and new Member States; prepared expert group meetings for the assessment of the FSAP; analysed and helped develop the Commission’s strategy for financial supervision in Europe; attended and reported from parliamentary committees and working groups in the European Council and the European Parliament; co-operated with Permanent Representations of the Member States; contributed to the speeches of the Commissioner and Director General.

Adapted a profit-forecasting tool to be used by Shell LPG local units worldwide; constructed a website.

Helped investigate the impact of the structure of private equity on the performance of SMEs; surveyed the level of internationalisation of start-ups in Israel, India, South Africa and Mexico; conducted a questionnaire on a sample of Israeli companies; prepared an international seminar; looked into new developments in the technology sector.

Maintained client relations with banks and consulting firms in Poland and Austria.

Assisted the department in day-to-day activities; prepared briefings, summaries and translations.