Prof. Dr. ÖZGÜN ERLER BAYIR

Jean Monnet Module Chair:  COPFUTUREU  (Challenges and Opportunities for the Future of Europe)

Project Manager:  DD-TECH (Digital Diplomacy: Building the Common Future with Technology (Erasmus+ KA2)

Project Manager: Reconciling Space and Social Sciences (TUBİTAK - 3005 Project)

Özgün Erler Bayır is a professor of international relations and department chair of International Relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Istanbul University.

She has been awarded the Republic of Poland’s “Bene Merito Honorary Distinction”, in 2026

She is an expert on Poland's foreign and security policy, European studies, EU policies, Eastern European politics, space diplomacy, space policy and governance, digital diplomacy, science diplomacy, and new types of diplomacy. She has extensive experience in international research project management and coordination, curriculum development, distance learning, digital skills and technology in international relations.

Her Ph.D. thesis is titled “Dilemma between Atlanticism and Europeanization in Poland’s Foreign Policy” (2011). She has completed the Jean Monnet Module at Istanbul University on "Future of EU: Security, Economy and Transatlantic Relationship - FUTUREU" (2020-2023). She is also the Coordinator of the Erasmus+ KA220-HED project titled "Digital Diplomacy: Building the Common Future with Technology" (DD-TECH) between the years 2022-2025. Besides, she is the Project Coordinator of "Youth Vision for the Future of Turkey-NATO Relations (YouthenNATO)", NATO Public Diplomacy Division Grants in 2022. Her second NATO Public Diplomacy Division’s Grant is for the project titled “Learn to Unite: Simulation-based Learning to Unite Against NATO’s Emerging Challenges” in 2023. She is also the Project Manager of TÜBİTAK 3005 - Support Program for Innovative Solutions Research Project in Social Sciences titled "Reconciling Social Sciences and Space: Shaping the Future with an Interdisciplinary Perspective to the New Space Ecosystem" (2022-2024). This project was completed in December 2024. Besides, in 2023, she completed a Jean Monnet Module titled Future of EU: Security, Economy and Transatlantic Relationship”. 

Currently, she is conducting a Jean Monnet Module on "COPFUTUREU: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future of Europe" between 2023 and 2026. She is the main researcher of another public diplomacy project funded by the U.S. Embassy, Turkey and titled “Make Information True Again (MITA): Reinforcing Democratic Values to Foster U.S-Turkey Relations” (2022-2024). She has been a project researcher and lecturer in the Jean Monnet Module titled “EU-GlobalDigi: EU as Global Digital Actor”, coordinating at the University of Bucharest, Romania, between 2024 and 2027. Recently, she completed a project granted by NATO - Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme, titled “The Evolution of Space for Security and Prosperity: Risks, Defence, and Cooperation”, conducted in partnership with the International Space University, France.  She has been a member of the Management Committee of Türkiye in the COST Action titled: Science in Diplomacy Network: implementing multilateral policymaking in intersectoral, cross-disciplinary & strategic domains (SiDnet) between 2025-2029.

She has published articles on several international relations issues in journals and two books. Her first book was published in 2012, titled “Dilemma between Atlanticism and Europeanization in Poland’s Foreign Policy”, and her second book was published in 2023, titled “New-New Diplomacy”. In addition, she teaches several undergraduate and postgraduate courses; some of them are on EU Studies, Introduction to IR, Comparative Foreign Policy Analysis, Foreign Policy Analysis, Turkey and EU Relations, Security Studies, Polish Foreign Policy etc. 

Since 2024, Özgün Erler Bayır has been the Director of Istanbul University, Centre for Global Politics and Administration Practice and Research and an executive member of Istanbul University, Board of Science and Research Policies. She has also been an executive committee member of the Istanbul University Research Council & International Research Projects Development and Management. Since February 2025, she has been the Chair of the Ethics Committee for Social and Human Sciences Research at Istanbul University.