Akgün İlhan
2019/20 Mercator-IPC Fellow, Project CoordinatorAkgün İlhan is an academic and researcher who has worked on water management, environmental policy and climate change since 2006. She holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a master’s degree in the same field from Lund University. Her research focuses on urban water management, climate change adaptation and water justice. Her research experience spans various completed and ongoing national and international projects. She currently coordinates the Turkey–Europe Climate Bridge project at the Istanbul Policy Center, which began in April 2026. She was a Mercator–IPC Fellow at the same institution in 2019–2020. Alongside her academic work, she produces reports and analyses aimed at bridging science and policy.
İlhan approaches water as both a physical resource and a social, political and climate issue. Between 2012 and 2024, she produced and hosted programmes on Açık Radyo, featuring more than 500 guests working on different dimensions of water issues and bringing scientific knowledge into public debate. Her work prioritises equity in access to water, sustainability and the public good. Through collaborations in Türkiye and Europe, she brings a comparative and critical perspective to water and climate policy.
The Climate Change program has been one of IPC’s main research priorities since 2013. IPC’s Climate Change Program publishes policy papers and reports on the energy transition, green economy, mitigation and adaptation policies, and the economic impacts of climate change. The Climate Change program works in the following thematic areas.The Climate Change programme works in the following thematic areas.Mitigation | Climate Diplomacy | Adaptation and Resilience | Knowledge and Communication
