Melek Kucukuzun
A Critical Inquiry into the State-Led Clientelism, Intrumentalization of Media Ownership and Post-Truth Politics in Turkey
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Melek is a doctoral researcher at the Institute for Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University London. She also works as a researcher carrying out a case study on the Turkish media system for the POPBACK Project.
After obtaining a double major in Public Relations and Political Science and International Relations at Bahçesehir University, she completed her MA in Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University. Later, she began her second MA at the Department of Gender Studies, Central European University.
Between these MAs, Melek also worked as a professional researcher, contributing to the research design, fieldwork, analysis and report writing phases of several projects.
PhD research description
Melek is interested in the political economics of populism, performativity, gender, ethics, and post-truth. Her doctoral research explores the interplay and engagement between media ownership, institutional logics, post-truth, and clientelism within the context of right-wing authoritarian populism.
PhD supervisors
Melek's research is supervised by Dr. Burçe Çelik and Dr. Gerhard Schynder.
Awards, grants or scholarships received
Melek earned several scholarships from public and private institutions after ranking 135th among 1.5 million applicants in Turkey’s university entrance examination. She received the Lund University Global Scholarship given for academic excellence and studied in Bahçesehir University, Syracuse University, Aristotle University, University of Macedonia, Allameh Tabataba'i University, and Central European University on different scholarships and grants.
Melek was recently awarded a studentship from Loughborough University London to pursue her PhD.