Pınar Akpınar is scholar at the Conflict Resolution and Mediation Stream of Istanbul Policy Center. She is currently Project Manager of Dialogue and Sustainable Conflict Resolution in the Kurdish Question and Polarization in Turkey Project. Akpınar received her PhD from the School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy (SPIRE), Keele University with her dissertation entitled ‘An emerging mediator on the periphery: Turkey’s mediations in the Syrian-Israeli talks and in Somalia’. Her research interests lie in the intersection of conflict resolution and foreign policy with a focus on mediation, peacebuilding, Turkish foreign policy and the Middle East.Akpınar taught at various universities including Sabancı University and Keele University. Between 2014-2014, she was lecturer at the Department of International Relations and Vice Director at Center for International Conflict Resolution, Yalova University. She was a visiting scholar at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in 2013.Akpinar gave seminars on Conflict Resolution and Mediation to foreign junior diplomats at the Diplomatic Academy of Turkish Foreign Ministry, a program hosted by IPC. She also gave training seminars on Conflict Resolution and Mediation at the Model Organization of Islamic Cooperation Conferences in 2012 and 2013.