1. Faculty of Social Sciences
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Dr. Aminath Nisha Zadhy-Cepoglu

  • Position: Marie Curie (MSCA) Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Areas of expertise: Critical Humanitarianism; Displacement; Im/mobility; Integration of Refugees and Migrants; Interethnic Relations; Social Inclusion
  • Email: A.Zadhy@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: 12.20 Social Sciences Building
  • Website: LinkedIn | Googlescholar | Researchgate | ORCID

Profile

I completed my BA at Marmara University, Istanbul and my PhD at Bilkent University, Ankara. My research explores the intersection of displacement, critical humanitarianism and gender. I'm keen to explore refugee management regimes and humanitarianism at the finer levels of analysis and have contributed to the understanding of dynamic strategising among displaced people and experiences of urban refugeehood. My doctoral study examined the gendered reception of displaced Syrian women by humanitarian organisations and the novel strategies they developed to challenge gendered and racialised othering. Ongoing research seeks to explore how themes such as vulnerability and resilience are understood and reformulated by displaced people, how boundary-blurring is carried out in the operational field of humanitarianism and how historical legacies shape contemporary im/mobilities in multiple locations.

Following my Phd, I joined the Department of Geography at University College London as a Postdoctoral Associate. In this role, I conducted research in Turkey and Jordan for the ‘Southern Responses to Displacement’ project.

In addition to my research roles, I am also on the steering group of the IMISCOE Standing Committee Gender and Sexuality in Migration Research (GenSeM).

Research interests

Under the supervision of Prof. Ipek Demir, I am currently leading the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions-funded project Displaced Brokers (DiShape). This two-year project began in May 2025 and seeks to open up new perspectives in studying displacement by foregrounding a specific cadre of displaced people: those carrying out (in)formal roles in humanitarian organisations.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Political Science and Public Administration
  • BA in Political Science and International Relations

Professional memberships

  • IMISCOE (International Migration Research Network)
  • BSA (British Sociology Association)

Research groups and institutes

  • Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies