PhD Candidate Basak Eren Awarded 2026 Penn Global Dissertation Grant

Basak Eren, PhD candidate in Architecture, has been awarded a 2026 Penn Global Dissertation Grant, a university-wide award supporting doctoral students conducting globally focused dissertation research. The program, administered by Penn Global, funds global fieldwork and archival research that expands the international scope of doctoral scholarship.

Basak’s dissertation examines how migration reshaped architecture and the built environment following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, and the subsequent formation of nation-states. Focusing on present-day Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria, her research investigates how migrants, particularly women, played active roles in producing architectural knowledge and shaping spaces across newly established national borders. By bringing together dispersed archives, oral histories, and field documentation, the project reconstructs histories of migration that have largely remained absent from conventional architectural narratives.

The Penn Global Dissertation Grant will support a six-week research trip across Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria, enabling Basak to conduct archival research, field studies, and oral history interviews in Istanbul, Athens, Sofia, and Izmir. This cross-border fieldwork will allow her to connect fragmented historical records across multiple countries and ultimately building a transnational feminist archive of architectural migration and strengthening the global dimensions of her dissertation.