Sinem Kavak

Research areas: Rural livelihoods, Political economy, Political ecology, Global value chains, Agrarian justice, Social movements, Migration and Mobility, Spatial Change

Research

I am a social scientist specializing in critical political economy and critical agrarian studies, with an international and interdisciplinary background. I earned my PhD with distinction in Political Science and International Relations from the École Normale Supérieure de Paris Saclay in France. My work lies at the intersection of political economy, human geography, political ecology, and migration studies, where I focus on examining markets,rural livelihoods and mobility in the Global South, particularly in Turkey, Colombia, and Lebanon.

I explore how broader political-economic forces—such as global value chain integration, natural resource governance, commodification, and environmental sustainability agendas—reshape rural livelihoods. By analyzing these dynamics alongside rural-urban linkages, poverty, and mobility, I uncover the uneven impacts of these processes on smallholders, farmworkers, migrants and the displaced populations. . Previously I worked on resource-grabbing and grassroots mobilizations against them.  I also led research projects on forced displacement with associated social and economic outcomes.

My ongoing research addresses climate-related challenges, such as extreme weather events, slow-onset changes, and corporate sustainability pressures, to better understand how communities adapt to and mitigate these impacts. I am committed to fostering a deeper understanding of rural socio-ecological systems and the pressing challenges they face in a globalized and climate-stressed world.
I am currently the principal investigator of a project funded by the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (2022–2026) titled  “Unravelling climate change impacts on migrant farmworkers in agrifood production”. This project examines the cascading impacts of climate change, including the business and governance responses to it, on smallholders and rural workers in coffee and chocolate value chains in Colombia and Turkey. Using qualitative and participatory methodologies, we investigate socio-ecological vulnerabilities across local, national, and global scales to shed light on the interconnected challenges faced by rural communities.

Teaching

 am involved in teaching a range of courses at Lund University and other institutions on sustainability, agrarian studies, political economy, social theory and research methods. I also supervise LUMES students on their dissertations.