Dr. Devran Öcal

Assistant Professor

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Biography

Devran Koray Öcal is a political geographer and qualitative social scientist focusing on political geography, feminist geopolitics, geographies of migration, and the geographies of states. His dissertation analyzed the everyday ethnoreligious spaces of the Turkish-Muslim diaspora with a specific emphasis on Turkish mosques in Germany. Currently, he is engaged in a research project examining everyday militarism in Kurdish villages located along the borders of Iran, Iraq, and Syria, offering critical feminist geopolitical insights. Additionally, he collaborates with Dr. Banu Gökarıksel from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a research project exploring the gendered and geopolitical constructs surrounding Syrian and Afghan refugees in Turkey. Öcal has completed his Bachelor and Master's degrees in Political Science in Turkey and earned his doctoral degree in Geography from the United States. He has been involved in teaching positions at various institutions, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, before joining the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern as a Postdoctoral researcher in February 2022.

Research Interests

Experience

Postdoc

2022-02-01 — Present

University of Bern • Bern, Switzerland

Research within the Social Cultural Geography group.

Lecturer

2021-09-01 — 2021-12-31

TED University • Turkey

Instructor

2021-01-01 — 2021-04-30

Duke University • Durham, NC, USA

Lecturer

2020-08-01 — 2020-12-31

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Taught courses in Political Geography.

Teaching Assistant

2016-08-01 — 2019-05-31

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Research and teaching support.

Awards

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Graduate School Dissertation Completion Fellowship

2019-01-01
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Ethics Fellowship

2019-01-01
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Graduate Research Award

2019-01-01
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Summer Fellowship

2019-01-01
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Off-Campus Dissertation Research Fellowship

2017-01-01
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Summer Research Fellowship

2016-01-01
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Joint-Project Award

2016-01-01
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Seed Research Award

2016-01-01

Requirements for University of Bern

Master Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent Maximum 60 ECTS credits of additional requirements if background is slightly different
Application Checklist
  • ID or passport
  • Passport photo
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Diploma and Diploma Supplement
  • Official Transcripts
  • Module description/course catalog
Specialization Notes

Part of the Swiss Joint Master in Computer Science (Bern, Fribourg, Neuchâtel).