Ipek Çineli received her PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Davis. In Spring 2020, she was a visiting graduate student at UC Berkeley. Ipek holds an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Before receiving her PhD, she completed MA degrees in Economics at Bogazici University and Political Science at Sabanci University.

Ipek's main research interests are in comparative politics and political economy focusing on state building and state capacity. In her dissertation, she explores the interactions between international and domestic factors in shaping state capacity and policy outcomes. She is particularly interested in understanding how the development of the modern state in early modern Europe affected the state development trajectories outside Western Europe and why bellicist theories of state building fail to fully explain the relationship between war and state building all around the world.

As a Max Weber Fellow, Ipek will work on turning her dissertation research into a book project by examining the diffusion of the modern state at the intersection of international relations and comparative politics. She will also work on expanding her dissertation research to generate new research questions. For instance, she will investigate how international and domestic factors interact and impact variations in nationalism.

Ipek has experience teaching quantitative research methods, comparative politics, and international relations at UC Davis at the undergraduate level.