I graduated from Koc University in 2013, with a double BSc (Hons) degrees in Psychology and Sociology. After completing my Research Master’s degree in Developmental Psychopathology at Leiden University in 2015 and working as a Research Assistant in the same department for a year, I started my PhD at Durham University in October, 2016, where I worked on social behavior, social experiences, and mental health of autistic young adults. I joined the University of Portsmouth as a lecturer at Department of Psychology in July, 2020. 

My main research interests include social behaviour (e.g. social exclusion), social experiences (e.g. friendships, quality of life), and mental health (e.g. anxiety and depression) in autistic adults. I am particularly interested in experiences of autistic university students transitioning in and out of university and how to provide the most appropriate support. Recently, I have been working on emotional contagion via reading literature in adults. 

In my research, I adapt a multi-method approach by combining experimental and quantitative methods with qualitative insights to achieve a comprehensive understanding of unique social behavior in autistic and non-autistic adults. 

I am the module coordinator for the Social Construction of Disability module (3rd year). I also lecture on Research Methods module (2nd year), Issues In Clinical And Health Psychology module (3rd year) and on the MSc Health Psychology.

I supervise undergraduate and MSc Health Psychology students.