About Ibrahim Sirkeci – Prof Dr Ibrahim Sirkeci

Ibrahim Sirkeci 2020 — Prof Ibrahim Sirkeci at Regent’s University London

Professor Ibrahim Sirkeci Ibrahim Sirkeci is currently Director of The International Business School, Manchester, UK. Prior to this role, Prof Sirkeci was Head of Enterprise Subject Group at Salford Business School, University of Salford, UK. He has taught and supervised undergraduate and postgraduate students at Coventry University, Edinburgh Napier University, the University of Hertfordshire, and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2021-2022 while also serving as the director of The International Business School. Previously, he served in the leadership team of Regent’s University London’s Faculty of Business and Management from 2005 to 2021 in various roles as Assistant Dean for Research, Head of Marketing Subject Cluster, Director of PhD Programme, and Director of Centre for Transnational Business and Management (RCTBM). Before joining Regent’s, Prof Sirkeci worked at the University of Bristol, Department of Sociology (2005) and was Head of Department at Atilim University, Faculty of Management in Ankara, Turkey (2003-2004).

Sirkeci has a PhD in Geography (University of Sheffield), BA in Political Science and Public Administration (Bilkent University) and PG Certificate in Teaching and Learning Higher Education (University College London).

As a multidisciplinary researcher, his work mostly covers human mobility, labour markets, population change and marketing. He has developed the “conflict model of migration” drawing on the concept of insecurity and also coined the term “transnational connected/mobile consumers”. He is an experienced business and government consultant with expertise in environmental analysis, public policy, consumer profiles, marketing and branding, and data and statistics. Sirkeci’s past research was funded by organisations including the World Bank, Ria Money Transfer, European Commission, and the British Academy.

Sirkeci values the wider impact of our scholarly activity as academics and researchers and have been offering advice and consultancy to organisations and governments. As an expert, recently he has also contributed to the Covid-19 policy effort by the UK Government and Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. I have also been serving on funding evaluation panels including ESRC, British Academy, British Council, ERC, Canadian SSHRC, and Swiss National Science Foundation.

Sirkeci serves on editorial boards of many journals and founded several key journals including Transnational Marketing Journal, Migration Letters, and Remittances Review among others. His books include COVID-19 and Migration: Understanding the Pandemic and Human Mobility (2020), Turkey’s Syrians: Today and Tomorrow (2017), Transnational Marketing and Transnational Consumers (2013), Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond (2012), and Cultures of Migration (2011).

Sirkeci chaired The Migration Conference series since 2012 as well as some other regular academic events such as Taste of City: Food and Place Marketing Conference and Research Methods Conference and workshops. Ibrahim Sirkeci has also established Transnational Press London, an international publishing house with a portfolio of 12 journals and over 200 books.

Believing in student-centred education design with continuous input by all stakeholders, Sirkeci has been teaching mainly Principles of Marketing, International Marketing, Research Methods as well as supervising postgraduate research with 9 PhD completions to date. His teaching and research interests include marketing, research methods, migration, labour markets, discrimination, disadvantages, transnational marketing and transnational consumers, consumer behaviour, remittances, and population change.

As an excellent people developer, the leadership style he adopts is marked by transparency, integrity, delegation and ownership. He values the importance of listening in management and leadership based on delegation, empowerment, promoting ownership and collaboration in an inclusive and fair fashion.

External examining: University of Birmingham, University of York, University of Sheffield, Edinburgh Napier University, University of East London, University of West of Scotland, University of Hertfordshire, Coventry University, Oxford Brookes University, Middlesex University, University of Gloucestershire, and many universities abroad including Southern Cross University, Australia, IMT Lucca, Italy, University of Bologna, Italy, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia, American University Sharjah, UAE and University Kassell, Germany.

External Research Funding: Totalling over £1.2 million including grants from the European Union, European Commission, World Bank, Higher Education Academy, British Academy, Ria Money Transfer and grants and sponsorships.

Professor Sirkeci has published several books, many book chapters, journal articles and other research pieces at prestigious outlets including journals such as Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Environment and Planning A, International Migration, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Population Review, Migration Letters, and Journal of Biosocial Science. He has also been a regular contributor to various international refereed conferences of learned societies and associations including the Marketing Science Society, Academy of Marketing, IUSSP, EAPS, and BSPS.

“Migration is not a solitary process. It isn’t about a mover and where he or she goes. Migration is about security and escaping dangerous situations”
See more: Cultures of Migration, the Global Nature of Contemporary Mobility (co-authored by Jeffrey H. Cohen and Ibrahim Sirkeci)

He is the author and editor of many books including Reader in Qualitative Methods in Migration Research (February 2019, Transnational Press London, ISBN: 9781912997107), Migration Policy in Crisis (January 2018, Transnational Press London, ISBN: 978-1-910781-85-2), Little Turkey in Great Britain (December 2016, Transnational Press London, ISBN: 9781910781197), Transnational Marketing and Transnational Consumers (June 2013, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-36775-5, Springer, ISBN: 978-3-642-36774-8), The Environment of Insecurity in Turkey and the Emigration of Turkish Kurds to Germany (Edwin Mellen Press, 2006) and Cultures of Migration, the Global Nature of Contemporary Mobility (co-authored with Jeffrey Cohen; the University of Texas Press, 2011), Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond (The World Bank, 2012, ISBN: 978-0-8213-8826-6; with J. Cohen and D. Ratha) [You can read the full text here].

“During the global financial crisis, we have seen remittances remain strong. This was despite the economic downturn in immigration countries.”
See more: Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond (The World Bank, 2012, ISBN: 978-0-8213-8826-6; coauthored by I. Sirkeci, J. Cohen and D. Ratha)

Prof Sirkeci’s co-authored book Cultures of Migration was named “Outstanding Academic Title” in 2013 by US Magazine Choice. Prof Sirkeci was awarded Excellence for Research staff award by Regent’s University London in 2014.