Emek Cayli is an associate professor in the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema at Hacettepe University Faculty of Communication. She is a visiting researcher at Södertön University, Department of Media and Communication Studies.
She is the editor and cofounder of the international peer-reviewed cultural studies journal: Moment Journal. Also, she is the cofounder and the editorial board member of Turkey's first academic queer studies journal KAOSQ+. She was a visiting scholar at Goldsmiths, University of London, Department of Educational Studies. She made her postdoctoral research on critical media literacy, children's media culture and visual methodologies there. She taught a variety of BA, MA and PhD courses such as "Gender and Media", "Cultures of Masculinities", and "Media Ethnography." She supervised MA theses and PhD dissertations in subjects and areas such as children and media, reality TV, audience studies, gender and media, and press freedom. Her research interests are ethnography, audience studies, feminist theory and critical cultural studies. She is the co-writer of the book Freedom of Expression in Turkey: 2001-2011. She had completed a research project about the reception of Turkish TV dramas in the Balkans. In connection with her interest in Balkan culture, she also published an article about Post-Yugoslavian Cinema entitled "Straightening The "Winding Drina": Heroism, Evil and Forgiveness In The Film Krugovi".
She came to Stockholm in January 2022 as a guest researcher at the Department for Media and Communication Studies, School of Culture and Education, Södertörn University. She works with Professor Anne Kaun.
Her current project title is "Cultural Hybridity, Global Imagination, and Transnational Encounters: Audience Reception of Turkish TV Dramas in Sweden". Her project is granted a 12-month postdoctoral research fellowship by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBİTAK). Her research project reflects her interest in Nordic- Turkish cultural encounters.
