Özgür Özdamar has taught at Bilkent-IR since 2009. He served as Chair of Department from 2020 to 2025. He was a visiting Fulbright Scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC during the 2019-2020 academic year. His research focuses on foreign policy analysis, leadership studies, forecasting, and IR theories. His articles have been published in journals such as European Journal of IR, International Affairs, Political Research Quarterly, International Studies Review, Terrorism and Political Violence, Foreign Policy Analysis, Social Science Quarterly, Middle East Policy, and Journal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. He currently serves as director of research at the Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Studies of Bilkent University. His last co-authored book, Leaders in the Middle East and North Africa: How Ideology Shapes Foreign Policy, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2023 and received the Distinguished Book Award by the Foreign Policy Analysis section of the International Studies Association. Özgür Özdamar will spend the 2025-2026 academic year as a visiting fellow at the European University Institute’s Robert Schuman Centre in Florence.