Nihan Duran
Visiting Fellow
Nihan Duran is a doctoral candidate in Political Sciences at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, specializing in intersectionality, gender, and forced migration. Her research examines the labour market experiences of refugee women in Germany, focusing on how gender, migration status, and socio-economic factors intersect to shape opportunities, constraints, and strategies for economic participation. Funded by the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, her project bridges rigorous qualitative analysis with policy-relevant insights, aiming to inform inclusive labour and migration policies.
Nihan holds an M.A. in International Relations from Istanbul Bilgi University, with an exchange semester at Sciences Po, Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA). Her thesis, “Living in the State of Exception: Experiences of Syrian Refugees in Berlin”, combined fieldwork and theory to explore social exclusion, legal frameworks, and labour market barriers. Her article on the dual discrimination of Syrian refugee women received the Jean Monnet Chair Gender Equality Essay Prize and was published in the Journal of Social Policy Conferences.
Beyond academia, Nihan has gained extensive organisational and communication experience through NGOs such as the Turkish Women’s Association (TFV) in Berlin and AmCham Turkey, as well as through her roles in teaching and project coordination. She brings advanced qualitative research skills, intercultural competence, and a commitment to social impact, grounded in both scholarship and practical engagement.