Nurullah Çakmaktaş

He graduated from Marmara University, Faculty of Theology. He completed his master's and doctoral studies at Marmara University, Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the Middle East. He was a visiting researcher at Tufts University (USA) during his doctorate and at Utrecht University (Netherlands) during his post-doctoral period. He is interested in the relationship between religion and politics in the Middle East in general and the religious radical thought in particular.

Ravza Altuntaş-Çakır

Dr. Altuntaş-Çakır is an Assistant Professor at Marmara University's Institute of Middle Eastern and Islamic Countries. She holds a PhD in Political Theory from Durham University's School of Government and International Affairs. Her research interests lie in the fields of Islamic and multiculturalist political thought, Middle Eastern politics, women's and gender studies, and comparative political theory. She is the author of the book A Political Theory of Muslim Democracy, published by Edinburgh University Press in 2022. Prior to joining Marmara University, she spent five years as a faculty member at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University.

Alim Arlı

Dr. Arlı completed his education at Ankara University (BA, 2000 and MA, 2003) and Istanbul University (PhD, 2009). Between March 2011 and February 2012, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Turkish Studies under the supervision of Prof. Kemal Karpat at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He worked at Denizli Pamukkale University (2001-2003; 2009-2013), Istanbul University (2003- 2009) and Istanbul Şehir University (2013- 2020). Between 2020-2023, he worked at Istanbul Technical University, Department of Sociology.

He is currently working in the Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries.

He has published works in the fields of contemporary sociological theory, orientalism, occidentalism, relational social theories, migrant poverty, urban sociology, cultural heritage, history of Turkish sociology, higher education studies.

Esra Çavuşoğlu

She completed her undergraduate study at the History Department of Marmara University; her MA degree at the European Studies program at Istanbul Bilgi University and her PhD in Political History and International Relations at the Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries of Marmara University. She has worked in the Political Science and International Departments in Istanbul 29 Mayıs University and Karamanoglu Mehmetbey University and currently is working at Marmara University, Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries as an assistant professor. Her main research fields are Gulf Studies, British foreign policy, Palestinian Studies, and Critical Security Studies.

Ertuğrul Zengin

Ertuğrul Zengin is an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology department at the Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries at Marmara University.  He received his BA in Department of Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University. He earned his MA in Modern Turkish History Institute also at Boğaziçi University and his Ph.D. at Galatasaray University. He taught social movements and political ideologies courses at Kütahya Dumlupınar University Political Science and International Relations Department for six years between 2017-2023 before his employment at the Institute.

Zengin’s areas of research and interest are social movements, political ideologies, Turkish and Middle Eastern societies and politics.

Zengin has published two books namely Akinji Movement: The Formation of Islamic Youth and Action in 1970’s and Atasoy Müftüoğlu: From Almohad to Universal: Critique of a Thought and several other articles.

Erdal Kurğan

Dr. Kurğan graduated from İstanbul Technical University, Department of Chemical Engineering, and then graduated from the Political Studies Master's program at the same university. He completed his doctorate at Boğaziçi University Atatürk Institute.

His research areas are Modernization, Ottoman-Turkish Modernization, Political Philosophy, Formation of the Modern State and Middle Eastern Modernization.