Seda Gürkan
Assistant professor
- Name
- Dr. S. Gürkan
- Telephone
- +31 70 800 8206
- s.gurkan@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0003-4971-9537
Seda Gürkan is Senior Assistant Professor of International Relations and European Studies at Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA). She is also a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges campus.
More information about Seda Gürkan
News and media
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FGGA researchers spotlighted in The Conversation -
ISGA researchers featured in international media -
2025 Europe Hub master’s thesis prize accepts submissions -
Europe Hub launched in European Parliament: ‘A bridge between research and policy is vital’ -
Europe’s evolving role in global security -
Democracy under pressure worldwide: 'Türkiye is a textbook example of how countries become autocracies' -
Annetje Ottow and Seda Gürkan visit the College of Europe in Bruges -
Collaboration with Leiden University: Rector of College of Europe visits -
The EU’s Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: International and European Perspectives -
FGGA Faculty Board awards €4.8 million in starter grants
Research output
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Stuck on the stairway of change: the EU’s enlargement and security and defence policies post 2022 -
Emotions and policy change in the wake of political scandals: How did the Qatargate shake the European Parliament? -
Emotions in EU foreign policy - when and how do they matter? -
Constructing an ‘emotional community’ in times of crisis: the EU’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022
Research projects
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The Role of Emotions in EU Foreign Policy (EUMOTIONS)
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Horizon-MSCA ‘Globalisation, Europe and Multilateralism: Democratic institutions, the rise of alternative models and mounting normative dissensus
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Horizon RIA project ‘Respond to Emerging Dissensus: Supranational Instruments and Norms of European democracy
PhD Training
Events
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Leiden University’s Europe Hub launch in Brussels: Bridging research and policy for a changing Europe
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EU’s changed security perspective: Perspectives from Non-EU partners and candidate countries
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Workshop The Global Futures of the EU
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German Marshall Fund Brussels event on enlargement (2023)
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Turkey’s Centennial: Democracy, Diplomacy, Security
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Inaugural Lecture by Federica Mogherini: Europe Hub Launch Event
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Meet the Europe Hub
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The EU’s Response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: International and European Perspectives
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Reflections on a year of Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine
Seda Gürkan is Senior Assistant Professor of International Relations and European Studies at Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA). She is also a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges campus.
Dr. Gürkan holds a PhD degree from Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a Master degree from the London School of Economics (LSE), and she is the graduate of Diplomatic School of Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was previously a lecturer at Université libre de Bruxelles (2015-2022), Visiting Scholar at Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC and a Visiting Fellow at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). Prior to joining academia, she practised international diplomacy for ten years as an international civil servant at NATO Headquarters in Brussels at the cabinet of Assistant Secretary General. At NATO, she was in charge of NATO-EU relations, counter-terrorism, missile defence and defence aspects of NATO’s operations. Dr. Gürkan regularly provides expert opinions to the European Parliament on the EU’s enlargement, human rights and the EU’s neighbourhood. She lectures and gives trainings to civil servants, diplomats, journalists and Eurocrats on international relations and EU studies.
She is a member of the Steering committee of Leiden University's interdisciplinary Europe Hub, and co-lead of Una Europa Doctoral Interdisciplinary Methods Training (DIMT) programme. She is the PhD Dean at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University (since 2024). Dr. Gürkan is also a Scientific Council Member of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) in Brussels and an advisory member of the scientific councils of several international research projects.
Teaching and research interests
Her teaching and research interests include EU foreign policy (with a focus on the autocratization processes in the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood, enlargement, EU-Turkey relations), European security and diplomacy, the crises the EU has been facing since 2009, EU institutions, European integration theories, parliamentary diplomacy (European Parliament), emotions in international relations, and methodology in political science.
She recently co-edited a Special Issue for the Journal of European Integration on 'Emotions in EU Foreign Policy' (2024) and co-edited the book 'Theorising the crisis of the European Union' (Routledge, 2021).
She currently leads a Starter Grant on the role of emotions in EU foreign policy (EUMOTIONS), and she is currently involved in two Horizon Europe projects (2022-2026), both dealing with the impact of the processes of autocratisation in the EU’s neighbouring countries on the EU’s foreign policy instruments:
- Horizon-MSCA ‘Globalisation, Europe and Multilateralism: Democratic institutions, the rise of alternative models and mounting normative dissensus’ (GEM-DIAMOND);
- Horizon RIA project ‘Respond to Emerging Dissensus: Supranational Instruments and Norms of European democracy’ (RED-SPINEL).
Assistant professor
- Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs
- Institute of Security and Global Affairs
- Advisory Board Member, Philosophy, Politics and Economics Programme
- Research Fellow
- Prof/Lecturer in European Studies
- Country Expert on Turkey