Dr. Özlem Atikcan

Biography

Özlem Atikcan is a Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick, where she also serves as the Director of the ESRC-accredited Doctoral Training Partnership, Midlands Graduate School. She has been a key figure in the FRAMENET project as a Principal Investigator and has contributed as a Co-Investigator in the RED-SPINEL project, while being a member of the Jean Monnet Network on Transatlantic Trade Politics. Atikcan's academic journey includes completion of a doctoral programme in Political Science at McGill University and a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at Université de Montréal-McGill University. Her research focuses on how political ideas and discourse influence public policy and democratic governance in Europe, particularly through the lenses of frames, narratives, and emotions influencing decision-making across multilevel transnational settings. Atikcan's work in political communication and democratic participation includes extensive analyses of EU and UK referendums, revealing how political actors utilize emotional and symbolic frames to shape public opinion. Methodologically, her research employs comparative designs, qualitative fieldwork, and computational text analysis of networks, paving the way for new insights into governance arrangements responding to global challenges. In her teaching role, Atikcan supervises both undergraduate and postgraduate students and has successfully guided ten PhD candidates. Her publications reflect her diverse interests, including monographs, co-authored works, and refereed journal articles.

Research Interests