Welcoming Dr. Ayşen Üstübici, 2025 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipient
CERC Migration is thrilled to welcome Dr. Ayşen Üstübici, recipient of the 2025 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Üstübici is an Associate Professor within the departments of International Relations and Sociology at Koç University in Turkey.
Joining us in Toronto in June 2026, Dr. Üstübici will work with Professor Anna Triandafyllidou, CERC Migration Chair, and Professor Ahmet İçduygu from Koç University.
Through her project, MIDSCAPES, Dr. Üstübici’s research will explore why some skilled professionals from unstable countries leave, while others stay, as well as how the constant flow of digital information influence their decisions, focusing specifically on mobility between Turkey and Canada.
Funded by the European Commission, the goal of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellowship is to support researchers’ careers and foster excellence in research. Designed for researchers who wish to carry out their research activities abroad, acquire new skills and develop their careers, this fellowship help researchers gain experience in other countries, disciplines, and non-academic sectors.
"I am honoured to receive the Marie Curie Global Fellowship for my project MIDSCAPES. This fellowship provides a unique opportunity to explore how digital information shapes middle-class migration decisions, particularly between Türkiye and Canada,” says Dr. Üstübici. “By combining digital ethnography, interviews, and surveys, MIDSCAPES will offer fresh insights into why some skilled professionals migrate while others stay. During my fellowship at CERC Migration under the supervision of Professor Anna Triandafyllidou, I look forward to expanding my methodological expertise, deepening my international collaborations, and contributing to critical debates on contemporary migration with colleagues at TMU and other Canadian institutions."
We look forward to welcoming Dr. Üstübic to CERC Migration as we embark on this fruitful journey together.
Biography
Dr. Ayşen Üstübici is Associate Professor at the Departments of International Relations and Sociology at Koç University, affiliated with Migration Research Center at Koç University (MiReKoc). Her research interests are irregular migration, migration policies, incorporation, future aspirations. She is the author of ‘The Governance of International Migration: Irregular Migrants' Access to Right to Stay in Turkey and Morocco’ (University of Amsterdam Press, 2018). Her work also appeared in outlets such as the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Comparative Migration Studies, Journal of Refugee Studies, Disasters, New Perspectives on Turkey, among others. Since 2020, she is one of the editors of the journal International Migration.
Ayşen Üstübici joins CERC Migration