The Levy Institute Issues Letter of Support for Emel Memiş
The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College stands in solidarity with Emel Memiş, who has been a Research Associate at the Institute since 2007. We are profoundly dismayed by her arrest on June 25, 2026 in Türkiye.
Associate Professor Memiş has collaborated with Levy Institute scholars on a wide range of topics of critical importance to both the Turkish and the global community of scholars engaged with questions of economic development, macroeconomic policy, and labor markets. This collaboration has resulted in eleven publications by the Institute, several of which subsequently served as the basis of publications in peer-reviewed academic journals and books. She has also worked closely with the Levy Economics Institute scholars to organize and conduct influential capacity-building workshops and knowledge dissemination events for academics, researchers and policy makers in Türkiye and abroad.
Associate Professor Memiş’s scholarly contributions have significantly advanced to our understanding of poverty in Türkiye and globally; the macroeconomic and microeconomic aspects of expanding care provisioning for children and the elderly, and the advancement of equity in labor markets. Her pioneering research on time-use data has been especially influential in shaping the conceptualization of time poverty and the development of methodological approaches for analyzing its relation with income poverty, economic development and wellbeing.
We sincerely hope that Associate Professor Memiş will be able to return to her work as soon as possible and continue her outstanding contributions as a scholar, teacher, and active member of several international professional organizations. Her work has enriched academic knowledge and informed policies aimed at improving people’s lives.
Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.A.