Merve Erdilmen

Welcome!

I am a FRQSC postdoctoral researcher at the Centre d’études et de recherches internationales (CÉRIUM) at Université de Montréal, and the Refugee Studies Center (RSC), University of Oxford. I am also a research fellow with the McGill Refugee Research Group at McGill University.

Broadly speaking, I am interested in comparative migration governance, humanitarianism, forced migration, and the politics of gender. My research centres the lives of communities who are on the receiving end of global humanitarian and gender policies. I draw upon postcolonial and feminist thought to acknowledge different forms of knowledge making on gender that are responsive to community needs.

I earned my Ph.D. in Political Science with Gender Studies Specialization at McGill University in 2025.

My work has been supported by Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQSC), MITACS Globalink, Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: Networking and Knowledge Transfer (FFVT), American Political Science Association (APSA), European International Studies Association (EISA), Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) among others.

I have held visiting positions at the Refugee Studies Centre in the Department of International Development at the University of Oxford and the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies at Osnabrück University.

I have conducted research in Turkey, Lebanon, Germany, Tanzania, and Canada. I have also worked in various humanitarian non-governmental organizations and international organizations as a volunteer, researcher, protection officer, and consultant in Turkey, Portugal, Italy, and Tanzania.