She earned her BA in Sociology and MA in International Relations from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, and received her Ph.D. in International Relations from Florida International University in 2014. Her teaching and research interests include human rights, nationalism and ethnic conflict, identity politics and conflict resolution with a focus on the Middle East and the Kurdish question. She did extensive field research in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and parts of Europe and published on the issues of ethnic movements, conflict, and democratization in the Middle East.