Meet the Expert

Dr Firat Cengiz – Marie Curie Fellow: Law & Economics and Governance

Dr Firat Cengiz is a Senior Lecturer in Law and Marie Curie Fellow at the School of Law and Social Justice. Her primary research interests cover a wide range of issues in European governance, including EU economic governance, EU’s external policies and in particular its relationship with Turkey, as well as gender equality. As a unifying theme, Firat is primarily interested in the democratic qualities of policymaking and strategies to make technical economic policies more accessible and open to citizen participation. Her research is interdisciplinary bringing together approaches and methods from law, economics and political science.

Firat’s current research project, funded by an EU Marie Curie grant, critically investigates the democratic qualities of European Union competition policy. Her recent journal article questions the very established theories for understanding democracy in EU governance and offers a more citizen-centric approach to policymaking, treating democracy and effectiveness not as separate but mutually reinforcing qualities of policymaking. Firat’s next project aspires at creating an open and participatory policymaking process that results in democratic and effective economic policies.

Firat has also published extensively on the Turkey-EU relations, including a journal article on Turkey's European Union Accession and the Kurdish Question and a co-edited a book entitled Turkey and the European Union, Facing New Challenges and Opportunities.

Being a member of the Horizon 2020 evaluation panel was a great recognition of my expertise

Firat was a member of the European Union Horizon 2020 panel evaluating research grant applications for the call on the role of the EU as a global actor. ‘Being a member of the Horizon 2020 evaluation panel was a great recognition of my expertise’ Firat commented. ‘It was a great opportunity to see the EU award processes from the inside and to gather helpful tips and methods to write a successful EU funding bids. The evaluation process was also a great opportunity to meet and work closely with other experts in my fields from different parts of the world.'

Firat was also the co-author (with Professor Fiona Beveridge) of a recent major report sponsored by the European Parliament’s Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee. ‘The EU Budget for Gender Equality’ proposes a gender sensitive approach to EU’s spending decisions and has been presented in Brussels before the European Parliament’s Gender Equality and Budgetary Committees.

Find out more about Firat’s research and other activities on her website, www.firatcengiz.eu, and via Twitter (@Firatcengiz3).