Ayşen Üstübici is currently an Assistant Professor at Koç University Department of Sociology and the Department of Political Science. She is also a member of the executive board of the Migration Research Center at Koç University (MiReKoc). She completed her PhD at Koç University and at the University of Amsterdam in 2015. Her book, based on her dissertation entitled ‘The Governance of International Migration: Irregular Migrants’ Access to Right to Stay in Turkey and Morocco’ has been published by the University of Amsterdam Press in 2018. The book compares irregular migration regimes and the effects of border externalization from the perspective of state and non-state actors and migrant incorporation in Turkey and Morocco. Her current research explores the dynamics of integration and social cohesion at the local level as well as changing migration and mobility aspirations. She is also involved in two new research projects as part of EU-wide consortia funded with Horizon 2020 framework; one on migration-development nexus (MIGNEX), another on advancing alternative migration governance (ADMIGOV). Her areas of interest include international migration, irregular migration, externalization of border management, social and public policy, the informal labour market and gender studies. She published articles in Geopolitics, New Perspectives on Turkey, Migration and Development.  The special issue she has co-edited, entitled “Externalization at work: Responses to migration policies from the Global South” is currently being published in Comparative Migration Studies.