Research Group

Postdoctoral researchers and students conducting graduate studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences of Istanbul University under the supervision of Ateş Uslu.

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Postdoctoral Researchers

Dr. Lingkai KONG

Dr. Lingkai KONG received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Beijing International Studies University in 2015. He completed his master’s degree in Economics at the University of Zurich. He obtained his PhD from the Political Science and International Relations program at İzmir University of Economics. His research focuses on federalism (decentralization and autonomy), anarchism, democratic theory, and nationalism. Since February 2026, he has been continuing his postdoctoral research as a visiting researcher in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Istanbul University.

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PhD and Master’s Students

Yiğit BALKUŞ

Yiğit BALKUŞ graduated in 2021 from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Hacettepe University’s Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. He began his master’s studies in Political Science at the same university and obtained his master’s degree by defending his thesis titled Cumhuriyet as a Post-Kemalist Newspaper. Since March 2024, he has been working as a research assistant in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Istanbul University, and since September 2025 he has been pursuing his doctoral studies in the same department. His academic interests include Turkish political life, political philosophy, and migration studies.

Tarık KELEŞ

Tarık KELEŞ graduated from the Public Administration undergraduate program at Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University in 2018 and completed the thesis-based master’s program in Political Science at the same university in 2021. In his master’s thesis, he identified the main elements of the crisis of political philosophy through the texts of Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss, and Plato. He is currently continuing his research in the PhD program in Political Science and International Relations at Istanbul University. In his doctoral dissertation, he examines approaches to peace in the modern and classical periods by focusing on Hobbes, Arendt, and Hegel through the lens of the subject–object distinction and identity. His fields of interest include political philosophy. While continuing his doctoral studies, he also works as a court clerk at the Bursa Courthouse.

Caner Selçuk SEVİNDİK

Caner Selçuk SEVİNDİK graduated in 2018 from the Department of Labor Economics and Industrial Relations at the Faculty of Economics, Istanbul University. He subsequently began his master’s studies in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the same university. He received his master’s degree with the thesis titled Left Intellectuals and Politics in the 1960s: Çetin Altan and Yaşar Kemal, prepared under the supervision of Associate Professor Güven Gürkan Öztan. Beginning his doctoral studies in the same department in 2021, he continues to work on his doctoral dissertation on the political philosophy of Ernst Bloch. Since 2023, he has been working as a Research Assistant in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences of Istanbul Kent University. His academic research focuses on political thought, political philosophy, and political sociology.

Rabia YAZAR

Rabia YAZAR received her bachelor’s degree from the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Istanbul University. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in the same department and is at the thesis stage. She conducted part of her thesis research in the field of Social Sciences at Ruhr University Bochum. Her master’s thesis topic is Marxism and Ethics. Her research interests include the history of ideas, historiography of the Ottoman and Republican periods, and feminist theory. She currently works as a Research Assistant in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Avrasya University.

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Alumni