Pınar Bilgin holds a Ph.D. in International Politics from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (2000), an M.Sc. in Strategic Studies from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UWA), an M.A. in International Relations from Bilkent University, and a B.Sc. in International Relations from the Middle East Technical University. Bilgin is the author of Regional Security in the Middle East: A Critical Perspective (2005; 2nd ed. 2019), The International in Security, Security in the International (2016), and co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of International Political Sociology (2017) and Asia in International Relations: Unthinking Imperial Power Relations (2017). Her latest co-authored book with Karen Smith, Thinking Globally About World Politics: Beyond Global IR, was published in 2024.
Over the course of her career, she has held numerous prestigious academic appointments. She was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC (2006–07), a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London (2013–14), and a Senior Research Fellow at Käte Hamburger Kolleg, Centre for Global Cooperation Research (2023). She has served as a visiting professor or scholar at institutions including the University of Southern Denmark’s Center for Contemporary Middle East Studies, the Center for the Resolution of International Conflicts (CRIC) at the University of Copenhagen (2015–16), the University of Amsterdam’s Centre for European Studies (June 2019), the Institute for International Relations (IRI) at Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio) (August 2019), Leiden University’s Institute for Security and Global Affairs (June 2021), and as a Global Fellow at St Andrews University (November 2022).
She has served as Associate Editor of Security Dialogue (2008–2013), International Political Sociology (2012–2017), and International Studies Quarterly (2019–2023). She is a member of the editorial boards of numerous journals including the European Journal of International Relations, ID: International Dialogue, Global Discourse, Journal of International Relations and Development, Contexto Internacional, International Studies Quarterly, Critical Military Studies, Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, Foreign Policy Analysis, International Studies Review, and Geopolitics. He also serves on the international editorial or advisory boards of International Relations, Millennium: Journal of International Relations, and Uluslararası İlişkiler.
She is the co-editor (with Monica Herz) of the Palgrave book series Critical Security Studies in the Global South and has served as the President of the World International Studies Committee since 2021.
Her work has been recognized with several awards, including the 2004 Best Article in Politics award by the UK’s Political Studies Association (awarded in 2005), the GEBİP Young Scientist Award by the Turkish Academy of Sciences (2008), and the TÜBİTAK Young Scientist Incentive Award by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (2009).
She is currently a Professor of International Relations at Bilkent University and a member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences.