Reyhan Topal

Welcome to my website!

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY), specializing in International Relations and Comparative Politics. I am also an Information Controls Fellow with the Open Technology Fund, which supports my project on China’s digital transnational repression efforts targeting the Uyghur diaspora. Alongside my research, I teach Violent Political Conflict, Information Technology and World Politics, and Research Seminar in Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity courses at Albany.

My research interests center on the intersection of technology, political violence, civil resistance, and authoritarianism. In my dissertation, I investigate how new technologies are transforming state repression and contentious politics. Utilizing a combination of qualitative, quantitative, and computational research methods, I examine the implications of AI-powered surveillance of Uyghurs, the use of online platforms to resist state repression, and the impact of emerging technologies on the nature of collective action. Through my research, I aim to offer new insights into the changing nature of violence, security, and authoritarianism.

Prior to my arrival at Albany, I earned my bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Bilkent University with a merit-based scholarship. I also obtained a master’s degree in International Relations from the Middle East Technical University with my thesis, “Turkey’s Mediation Initiatives between 2002 and 2015: A Discourse and Content Analysis.”

Since 2023, I have been serving as a research manager at the Center for Policy Research at Albany, where I oversee a Department of Homeland Security-funded project focused on violent extremism in the United States. Previously, I was a Dissertation Scholar affiliated with Princeton University’s Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, which funded my dissertation research. As a Next Generation Fellow at Women in International Security during the 2021-2022 academic year, I conducted research on the gender gap in technology and security studies and proposed solutions to make these fields more inclusive and diverse. In 2019, I earned a place at the University of California, Berkeley’s Program in Science and Technology Studies as a visiting researcher to observe the circulation of radical ideologies within and across violent online subcultures.

With over 10 years of experience, I have worked as both an academic researcher and a practitioner at international governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including NATO, the European Union, and the UN Refugee Council, as well as academic institutions. Most recently, I served as a data governance consultant for the “Unfreedom Monitor” project at Global Voices, a global community of human rights activists and journalists. Through this initiative, we collected and analyzed evidence of the use of digital technologies for oppressive purposes.

Please take a tour of my website to learn more about my research.