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Emre Üçkardeşler

2016/17 Mercator-IPC Fellow

Emre Üçkardeşler is a social scientist working on public policy. He works as a researcher and consultant on education and social policy. Emre is currently a PhD candidate in Sociology at Carleton University, Canada, writing his dissertation on social policies in Turkey and South Korea.  He holds an MA in Public Administration from Bilkent University and a BSc in Political Science with a minor in Sociology from the Middle East Technical University.   He has taught courses on political economy and development as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Ottawa, Canada.

In the field of education, Üçkardeşler has authored numerous policy/legislation analyses and policy-recommendation papers on public education expenditures, school violence, student absenteeism, educational administration and gender. He also organized and led several workshops for policy makers, teachers and social service experts. He took part in the development of toolkits for identifying children/households at risk and has prepared training modules and delivered trainings towards educational inspectors, school managers and teachers on gender sensitive legislation in education. He has drafted strategic plans and protocols for public bodies involved in well-being of children and family.

In the field of social policy, Üçkardeşler has authored articles on the new economy, post-industrial employment, and social expenditures in Turkey and the OECD. He also authored reports on private pensions and social security reform for national and international organizations. Emre has a particular interest in comparative analysis between Germany, South Korea, and Canada. In 2010, he was part of a team studying the transformation of the Ruhr from industry to services. In 2015, he visited German dual-education institutions. Most recently, as a fellow of the Asia Development Institute at Seoul National University in 2016, Emre conducted research on new vocational schools in South Korea.

Project: “Education Policies for Refugee Children and Youth in Turkey and Germany: A Framework for Shifting Patchwork Responses into Long-term Strategies”

This project evaluates the current education policies for Syrian and other refugee children in Germany and Turkey. Field research will be conducted in both countries. By exploring the strengths and weaknesses of the existing situation and drawing lessons from good and poor practices, this research will review the existing capacity and prospects of public, private, and non-governmental institutions.

Bringing together lessons from personal research, insights from contemporary studies, and comparative lessons from similar cases, specific policies and programs for refugee children will be proposed. This project aims to contribute to the formation of better long-term policies as well as to facilitate mutual learning and cross-national sharing of ideas and lessons between Turkey and Germany.


İPM-Sabancı Üniversitesi-Stiftung Mercator Girişimi
IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative