Birsen Erdogan

Birsen pursued her studies in International Relations at Bilkent University in Ankara, where she also completed her MA in the same department. During her time as a full-time research and teaching assistant at Dokuz Eylul University in Izmir, she spent a year at the London School of Economics on a full EU scholarship. It was during this period that her interests and expertise shifted towards International Human Rights, with a particular focus on Minority Rights, Law, and Sociology.

In 2003, Birsen relocated to the Netherlands and joined the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights as a PhD candidate and part-time lecturer. Her doctoral research centred on Turkey’s accession to the EU, viewed through the lens of International Relations and sociological theories. After two years of research at the Institute, she received a MATRA grant from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving as co-coordinator of a three-year project titled Training of Young Turkish Judges and Public Prosecutors on Human Rights. This highly successful initiative concluded with numerous training sessions and final publications, which Birsen co-edited.

Following the completion of this project, Birsen applied for a teaching position at the Faculty of Law in Maastricht. Since then, she has been teaching, coordinating, and designing courses at University College Maastricht (UCM) and the Faculty of Law, including:

• International Relations
• International Organisations
• Actors in International Affairs
• Foreign Policy Making
• Conflict Resolution
• Peace and Conflict Studies
• Contemporary Critical Security Studies
• Middle Eastern Politics

She is also contributing to the planning and delivery of the Rights of Women course during the 2024-25 academic year, as well as UTQ/BKO trainings at the Faculty.

Birsen completed her PhD dissertation at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She regularly participates in European-level conferences and has published extensively in her area of specialisation, particularly on Discourse Analysis in Foreign Policy, focusing on military interventions and peacekeeping operations.

Her primary research interests lie in critical theories, security studies, and human rights. She is also an expert in Discourse Analysis, Foreign Policy Analysis, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, Middle Eastern Politics, as well as the theories of democracy and citizenship.

Birsen’s academic work and teaching exemplify the interdisciplinary convergence of international public law, human rights law, political science, sociology, and international relations.

For research output and interests, see: https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/en/persons/birsen-erdogan