About me

Thank you for visiting my webpage! 

As a Doctoral Researcher at UC San Diego, I explore international migration, international relations, and political sociology. My research focuses on uncovering the historical colonial and racial impacts on current refugee governance and migration policies through a transnational perspective. I combine academic knowledge and hands-on experience in forced migration and related policies. 

My current book project 'Refugee Governance in the Middle East: A Comparative Historical Analysis,' explores the refugee policies from the 19th-century Ottoman Empire to present-day Turkey. As a mixed-method researcher, my work relies on various approaches, including archival studies, interviews, and policy analysis, to tackle various aspects of migration and policy analysis, enabling problem-solving and adaptability. My research has been published as academic peer-reviewed articles, policy papers, book chapters, reports, and blog posts, addressing different audiences. 

Teaching Sociology of Immigration situated mere minutes away from the U.S.-Mexico border, I integrate advocacy and outreach into my curriculum through internship and volunteering opportunities for students to engage with local NGOs and participate in refugee advocacy efforts. I also teach political sociology, qualitative and comparative-historical methods.

Additionally, I engaged in non-academic policy research. Between 2016 and 2017, as a human rights researcher in an NGO, I produced a report on the civil society’s response to Syrian refugee migration in Turkey and human rights in state-controlled spaces. I contributed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' flagship publication, 'World on the Move,' with my analysis also being featured as a reference paper. Moreover, I was invited by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to contribute to their Inclusive Policy Lab as an expert.

I have received various awards recognizing my scholarly work, such as the Interdisciplinary Research Award and Graduate Student Travel Award from UC San Diego. I have also received the Barbara and Paul Saltman Excellence in Teaching Award and the prestigious Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) Dissertation Fellowship.

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The original spelling of my name: Şevin Gülfer Sağnıç

How to pronounce my name:  "Ş" is pronounced as "Sh", S(h)evin.  

Fun fact: my name means "night" in Kurdish, and coincidentally, I was born late at night.