CV

Download

• CV (PDF)

Profile

Economics PhD candidate in empirical economics and political economy, with a research agenda centred on using granular open data across space, time, and behaviour to study institutions, governance, and decision-making. My work combines original data construction from fragmented administrative, geospatial, remote-sensing, and behavioural sources with rigorous quantitative methods, including difference-in-differences, event studies, and high-dimensional fixed effects.

Research Interests and Methods

• Fields: Political economy; institutions and governance; applied economics; computational social science.
• Methods: Causal inference; panel data econometrics; GIS; remote sensing and night lights; administrative data; large-scale behavioural data; algorithmic benchmarking; open-source data.

Education

• University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
  PhD in Economics (thesis under examination; expected completion 2026), 2021-present.
• Penn State University and Ibn Haldun University.
  Doctoral studies in Economics, 2010-2021.
• Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey.
  MA in Economics, 2008-2010.
• Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey.
  BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 2003-2008.

Research

Job Market Paper

• A High-Resolution View of the Hinterland: Local Government Centralization and Rural Development in Turkey

Working Papers

• Birthplace Favoritism Revisited: Replication, Modern Evidence, and Crisis Dynamics

Works in Progress

• Measuring Cognition at Scale: The Association Between Ramadan Exposure and Chess Performance
• A Novel Integerisation Procedure for Population Data (with P. Wohland-Jakhar)

Research and Applied Data Experience

• Queensland Centre for Population Research (School of the Environment, UQ), Brisbane.
  Senior Research Assistant, 2022-2025.
  • Developed a reproducible demographic estimation pipeline for the Queensland Government Statistical Office (QGSO), producing small-area (SA2) population estimates with a focus on Indigenous populations.
  • Implemented a modified IPF procedure for non-full-dimensional constraint structures.
  • Designed a novel integerisation algorithm converting fractional IPF outputs into integer population counts.
  • Liaised with QGSO stakeholders and authored technical documentation and handover materials to support maintenance, auditability, and reuse.
• UQ International Comparisons Database (UQICD), Brisbane.
  Senior Research Assistant, 2022-2025.
  • Refactored and documented the core R codebase supporting UQICD indicators and workflows, improving maintainability and reproducibility.
  • Built data pipelines enabling user-defined regional aggregations for purchasing power parity comparisons and developed publicly available dashboards in R.
  • Managed acquisition, cleaning, harmonisation, and validation of heterogeneous international datasets to support stable updates.
• Real Estate and Transport Project (Prof. Alicia Rambaldi), Brisbane.
  Senior Research Assistant, 2025-present.
  • Acquired and cleaned large administrative property transaction data in collaboration with the NSW Valuer General.
  • Integrated sales records with GTFS transport networks and GIS layers, constructing accessibility measures for econometric modelling.
  • Produced distance-weighted and route-diversity indices to quantify public transport access in commercial property analysis.
• Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul, Turkey.
  Research Assistant, 2018-2021.
  • Built text analytics and sentiment analysis workflows for social media data (Twitter API), including data collection, cleaning, and visualization.
  • Supported faculty research projects.
• Penn State University, State College, USA.
  Research Assistant (Prof. Bill Goffe; Prof. Vijay Krishna), 2010-2017.
  • Developed a Python tool to flag irregularities in assessment data, automating detection of potential academic misconduct.
  • Contributed proofs for research on voting rules and welfare properties.
• Koc University (Engineering), Istanbul, Turkey.
  Research Assistant, 2004-2008.
  • Applied pattern recognition methods to sensor data for driver identification (DRIVE-SAFE project).
  • Implemented video deinterlacing algorithms for broadcast enhancement and signal-processing applications.

Teaching (Selected)

• University of Queensland, Senior Tutor / Tutor, 2021-present.
• Ibn Haldun University, Teaching Assistant, 2018-2021.
• Penn State University, Instructor of Record / Teaching Assistant / Tutor, 2010-2017.

Conference Presentations

• 38th Annual PhD Conference in Economics and Business, ANU, November 2024.
• Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics (SIOE), UNSW, August 2025.
• UQ Applied Micro Day, UQ, September 2025.

Technical Skills

• Programming: R, Python, Stata, MATLAB; working knowledge of SQL.
• Methods and Data: Causal inference; panel data analysis; administrative data; GIS; remote sensing; data scraping; algorithmic benchmarking.
• Tools: Google Earth Engine; AWS; LaTeX.

References

• Prof. Alicia Rambaldi (Principal Advisor), University of Queensland
• Dr. Haishan Yuan (Associate Advisor), University of Queensland
• Dr. Pia Wohland (Project Lead, QGSO), University of Queensland