I am a Research Fellow at the Centre of Resilience for Social Justice, School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton. My current work focuses on evaluating the HeadStart programme in Blackpool. HeadStart is a multi-agency programme, funded by the National Lottery Fund, aiming to promote wellbeing and resilience in young people by mobilising a 'resilience revolution' across the whole of Blackpool.

I obtained a PhD in Developmental Psychology at Koç University (Turkey) in 2020. My PhD research focused on the well-being and development of youth living in the armed conflict zone in eastern Turkey. In my dissertation, I examined factors that posed risk (e.g., armed conflict experiences, poverty, family violence) or protection (e.g., social competence, support in the family) for the psychological well-being and development of youth as well as the underlying mechanisms. While pursuing a PhD, I also worked as a research and teaching assistant at Koç University. Prior to this, I was a research and teaching assistant at the Psychology Department of Izmir University of Economics (Turkey), where I received an MSc degree in Experimental Psychology in 2013. 

Adopting a socio-ecological approach to the theory and practice of resilience, my research interests include investigating individual, familial and contextual risk and promotive/protective factors linked to the well-being and development of youth with a translational agenda. This includes informing policy decision-making about the need and strategies to develop effective early-stage interventions and policies to promote resilience in youth, families, and communities. 

I have extensive experience in using quantitative methods, and in some projects, I have also used mixed methods approaches. I am particularly interested in conducting interdisciplinary research projects co-produced with community partners.