Selin Y Nielsen

Dr. Selin Yildiz Nielsen, Co-founder and President of Glocally Connected, has worked in migration related work for the last 20 years as a director, professor, coordinator, manager, instructor, and consultant. She has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in California, Iowa, Washington D.C., New York and the Republic of Turkey on the subjects of migrant well-being and education. Dr. Yildiz-Nielsen’s work with refugees started with the Iowa International Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating migrant and refugee integration. She has also lead projects providing educational assistance to teachers in Syrian refugee camps in Southeast Turkey during her time as a visiting professor in the region. Her work was carried out in four camps and included training in cross-cultural integration and conflict and trauma management. She has also contributed the education of girls both refugees and citizens in Turkey establishing scholarships for several disadvantaged girls as a result.

Her latest projects include leading the team for the Glocally Connected Public Health initiative which provided health education for the local refugees including psycho-social support; consulting to an educational project “Project Back to School” in collaboration with Rotary International in Torbali, Turkey where she trained teachers on teaching migrants; and co authoring a proposed project with the Luxembourg Embassy in collaboration with Ravdanur Fund to extend educational opportunities to both local and refugee girls. She has also led projects with organizations such as EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and Frankfurt School for Management on the subject of women’s inclusion in the work force in the past.

Dr. Nielsen has presented in the United Nations on behalf of refugees and gave numerous talks about her continuing work with especially Syrian refugees worldwide.

Throughout her career, Dr. Yildiz-Nielsen has published articles and book chapters related to international affairs and education. She recently co-authored the book, “Encounters in the Turkey-Syria Borderland,” the English version was published in 2018 and the Turkish version was published in 2019. The book is currently being translated into Arabic and French as well.