OzU Social Sciences faculty Dr. Susan Beth Rottmann supervises and participates in several projects addressing issues of democracy and inequality and contributing to the social integration of immigrant communities: 

1. OppAttune (Countering Oppositional Political Extremism through Attuned Dialogue: Track, Attune, Limit) is a project supported by “Horizon Europe Cluster 2: Call for Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Societies “and has 17 participating organizations. The project aims to monitor the evolution of oppositional extremist ideologies and protectionist decisionmaking, develop an innovative model of adaptation, and test a range of interventions at national and transnational levels that limit the spread of extremism. Within the scope of the project, Ozyegin University, and Istanbul Bilgi University from Turkey will take part as partners. 

2. The project “GAPs: De-centring the Study of Migrant Returns and Readmission Policies in Europe and Beyond” unites 17 participating organizations. It examines the gaps between expectations and the actual results of return migration policies. The project is also supported by “Horizon Europe Cluster 2: Call for Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Societies.” The objectives of the GAPs are: a) to scrutinize the gaps in the EU’s internal and external returns governance; b) examine the complex interactions of policy makers and local actors involved in returns processes to shed light on cooperation failures; c) analyze immigrants’ own perspectives to understand their knowledge of return policies, desires and experiences.

3. The project “Food, Home-cooking and Social Integration of Syrian Women in Istanbul, Gaziantep and Hatay” supported by the TÜBİTAK1001 program seeks to understand how immigrants’ home-making activities, especially food consumption and cooking practices have changed and how these practices affect their social integration through in-depth qualitative research with Syrian women. By comparing three cities that have received high numbers of migrants from Syria to Turkey in 2011, the project examines how cooking and sharing food are tools to strengthen community integration and express cultural heritage.

4. The HIDDEN (History of Identity Documentation in European Nations: Citizenship, Nationality and Immigration) project is supported by the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) program of TÜBİTAK. It explores issues of identity, citizenship and immigration by linking historical research on identity documents to modern, digital forms of identity documents and examines the laws that create and govern them. HIDDEN will hold academic and public events to enhance policy dialogue on identity documentation in Europe.