Yesim is undertaking her PhD in Comparative International Education and Sociology at Columbia University Teachers College, with a Fulbright scholarship. Her dissertation research focuses on the role of teachers in promoting social cohesion through the inclusion of refugee students in Turkey. Besides her PhD, Yesim is working as an education coordinator at Save the Children Turkey Country Office, coordinating education programs for vulnerable children in Turkey, including refugee children. For the past fours years, she worked as a graduate research assistant at Columbia University for a mixed-method research project that focused on teacher and student well-being in refugee settlements in Uganda and South Sudan, and a comparative study in sixteen countries, which aims to develop a typology of teachers of persons of concern to improve support mechanisms for teachers working in conflict-affected settings. Prior to starting her PhD at Columbia University, Yeşim worked for UNICEF Turkey Country Office as an education officer, and at the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey (TEGV) as an education specialist. Yeşim holds a joint MA in Education Policy from University College London (the UK), University of Deusto (Spain), and Aarhus University (Denmark), and a BA in Psychology and Sociology (double major) from Koç University (Turkey).