Personal Profile

Pronouns: she/her

Academic Qualifications

• Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin (August 2023-)

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Claudia Liebelt

• MA Sociology, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul (September 2019- July 2022)

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Meltem Ahıska
İmer, İ. (2022). An ethnography of collaboration: Reflecting on the assemblage of
projects for gender mainstreaming in Turkey (Unpublished MA thesis).
Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

• BA Psychology (Double Major), Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul (September 2016- July 2019)
• BA Sociology, Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul (September 2015- July 2019)

Work Experience

• Research Assistant at Collaborative Research Centre 1171 Affective Societies (August 2023-)

• Project Coordinator, Business Against Domestic Violence Network, Sabanci University, Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey, Istanbul (September 2022- July 2023)
• Freelance Gender Equality Training Designer and Trainer (Octtober 2022- Dececember 2022)
• Research Assistant, Sociology Department, Scientific Research Project, Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul (April 2020- September 2021)

Conference Presentations
İmer, İ. (2025, November). Rose Scents and Sensory Docu-Poetry Workshop [Workshop].
Performİstanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. (Facilitated by the author)

Liebelt, C., Tokel, M., & İmer, İ. (2025, September). Thinking with Scents: Ethnographic
Impressions, Sensory Interventions [Curatorial practice]. DGSKA 2025 –Un/Commoning Anthropology: Out of Focus Exhibition, Cologne, Germany.

İmer, İ. (2025, July). Co-Poietic Translations of Scent: Docu-Poetry and Rose Fragrances in
Turkey’s Aesthetic Controversies [Conference presentation]. Affective Socieities
Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

İmer, İ. (2025, June). Olfactory Aesthetics: Reflecting on Power through Rose Fragrances in
Turkey [Conference presentation]. Senses, Methodologies & Materialities Workshop,
Affective Societies, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

İmer, İ. (2025, June). Docu-Poetry Translates the Olfactory Affect: Rose Fragrances in
Turkey’s Aesthetic Controversies [Conference presentation]. SIEF2025 – Unwriting
Conference, Aberdeen, Scotland.

İmer, İ. (2023, September). Understanding Gender Backlash through the Lens of
Collaboration: What Is at Stake for Gender Mainstreaming? [Conference
presentation]. ATGENDER Conference 2023, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey.

İmer, İ. (2022, December). Şirketler Evreninden Toplumsal Cinsiyet Eşitliği: Hâkim Kalıplar
ve Öneriler [Conference presentation]. Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi Sosyoloji
Konferansı, Istanbul, Turkey.

İmer, İ. (2021, September). How to Make Sense of, Conceptualize, and Study Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR): A Juxtaposition of Gender Rights Politics and CSR
Activities in Turkey [Conference presentation]. 15th Conference of the European
Sociological Association, RN09 Economic Sociology, Online.

Book Chapter

• İmer, İ., Liebelt, C., & Tokel, M. (2026). Olfactory Affect. In J. Slaby & C. von Scheve (Eds.), The New Key Concepts in Affective Societies (pp. 83–91). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003640813

Membership

European Sociological Association

AtGender, The European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documentation

Research

PhD Project: Olfactory Belongings: Contested Scents in Urban Publics

Research Interests

Anthropology of the body and the senses; political anthropology; anthropology of religion; gender studies; smell studies; queer theory; actor–network theory; affect and emotion.