Dr Sirri Demirsoy
Sirri is involved with LCSS for general coordination of the infrastructure and groundwork, as well as organising seminars across platforms. He holds a PhD degree in Electronics from University of Westminster, and a BSc degree from Middle Eastern Technical University (METU), Turkey. Prior to his current affiliation with a London based technology company, he worked as a researcher at the University of Westminster for three years. Sirri also has a long experience in developing and managing projects related to UK's Turkish ethnic minority wellfare and development. He voluntarily tought Maths and science modules at various weekend supplementary schools in London.
Mr Ali Cifci
Ali is the Director of Education Platform at LCSS and a research student at the University of Cambridge. His main research interest is the strategic behaviour of students in problem solving during their mathematics education. Ali has previously participated in the establishment and administration of many civic organisations both at national and international levels. He has a first degree in Mathematics Education from Marmara University in Turkey, a Graduate Diplama in Mathematics Teaching at AUT in New Zealand, and a Masters degree in the same area from King's College London.
Dr Zeynep Engin
Zeynep Engin is the Director-General of the London Centre for Social Studies (LCSS) and an interdisciplinary researcher. Her main research interests include statistical modelling, complexity theory and Turkish Migration in the EU. She obtained her PhD in statistical pattern recognition from Imperial College London in 2009. Prior to this, Zeynep held a visiting position at Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT) as the SERP’06 Exchange Scholar of Imperial College. After completion of her PhD, Zeynep initially worked as a project manager at the LCSS, and was then appointed as a member of the Board of Directors. During her postgraduate studies in London she was actively involved in a number of community organisations tackling educational, gender, and faith issues. Her current research aims to conceptualise the social integration dynamics in multi-cultural societies through the use of complexity theory taking the Turkish Speaking Community in Britain as the test population. Her research involves both qualitative and quantitative components, with a specific focus on the use of Bayesian paradigm for modelling complex social problems.
Dr Sibel Safi
Sibel has an LLB degree from University of Ankara - Law Faculty, after graduation from TED College of high school. She has a masters degree in European Union Law from University of Bucharest and an LLM degree in International Law from University of East London. Sibel has received her PhD degree from University of Bucharest in International Human Rights Law area. She involved in extensive teaching in European Union law lectures at Academy of Sciences of Economy. Previously, she had voluntary works for the CMRB and EJN research centres of University of East London. She has one book published for the Evaluation of Human Rights and the second book concerning press freedoms of the countries will be published at UEL soon.
Mr Harun Akyol
Harun is a lecturer in the department of Humanities at West Suffolk College, UK. He has been teaching introduction to sociology, theorising modernity and understanding deviance modules there since 2008. He is a graduate of the international relations Department of Istanbul University. He also has a master’s degree in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of London (SOAS) in 2002. He taught Sociology, Turkish language and culture at Suffolk College between 2004 and 2007. He completed his PGCE (Post Graduate Teaching Certificate in Education) through the University of East Anglia in 2006. His main research interests include the theories of democracy, nationalism, ethnic conflict, Middle Eastern politics and post structuralism. He is currently engaged in a Ph.D. research project at the University of Essex’s department of government looking at the issues of Kurdish national discourse in the struggle for the future status of Kirkuk.