DEMIGSabancı University

People

Project team

DEMIG is led by M. Tahir Kılavuz at Sabancı University and brings together researchers working across political science, survey research, data science, and large language models.

Principal Investigator

Portrait of M. Tahir Kılavuz
Principal Investigator

M. Tahir Kılavuz

Sabancı University

M. Tahir Kılavuz is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Sabancı University. His research examines political regimes, political behaviour, religion and politics, survey analysis, and computational social science, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa as well as cross-regional comparisons.

He leads DEMIG, the ERC Starting Grant project examining the tension between democratic commitment and rising anti-immigrant attitudes.

Research interests
  • Political regimes
  • Political behaviour
  • Religion and politics
  • Survey analysis
  • Computational social science
Contacttahir.kilavuz@sabanciuniv.edu
External profiles
Sabancı University profileX (Twitter)Google ScholarCORDIS project record

Senior Researchers

Portrait of Selim Yaman
Senior Researcher

Selim Yaman

Selim Yaman is a senior data scientist whose primary research area is large language models (LLMs).

He earned his PhD at American University. He previously worked at the UK Office for National Statistics and held a postdoctoral research position at the University of Mannheim.

Research interests
  • Large language models (LLMs)
  • Data science
  • Statistical modelling
External profiles
Personal website
Portrait of Ahmet Utku Akbıyık
Senior Researcher

Ahmet Utku Akbıyık

Meta

Ahmet Utku Akbıyık is a quantitative researcher at Meta. He completed his PhD in Political Economy and Government at Harvard University.

His research examines migration, refugee integration, social cohesion, and political behaviour using survey experiments and computational analysis of text, images, and social-media data.

Research interests
  • Migration
  • Social cohesion
  • Survey experiments
  • Political economy
  • Computational methods
External profiles
Personal website

Researchers

Portrait of Ayşenur Çukur
Researcher

Ayşenur Çukur

Ayşenur Çukur is a researcher with DEMIG.

Photo forthcoming
Researcher

Betül Sena Köktaş

Betül Sena Köktaş is a researcher with DEMIG.

Photo forthcoming
Research Partner

Eslem Akbıyık

Galata Anket

Eslem Akbıyık works with Galata Anket, an academic and market research company that combines digital survey tools with research and data services.

Her work contributes experience in survey operations and participant recruitment for academic and applied research.

Research interests
  • Survey research
  • Participant recruitment
  • Academic and market research
External profiles
Galata AnketLinkedIn
Portrait of Helin Yaren Ekmen
Researcher

Helin Yaren Ekmen

Helin Yaren Ekmen is a researcher with DEMIG.

Photo forthcoming
Researcher

Mehmet Akif Ezer

Mehmet Akif Ezer is a researcher with DEMIG.

Portrait of Zeynep Sena Uzunboy
Researcher

Zeynep Sena Uzunboy

Georgetown University

Zeynep Sena Uzunboy is a master’s student in Arab Studies at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Situated at the intersection of political science and sociology, her research examines migration, social cohesion, and how societies narrate questions of belonging.

Research interests
  • Migration
  • Social cohesion
  • Narratives of belonging
  • Political sociology
External profiles
LinkedIn