Zehra Taşdemir Yaşın is a senior postdoctoral researcher at ICTA-UAB, and an assistant professor of sociology at the Social Sciences University of Ankara. Her research integrates historical sociology, political ecology, and political economy with a focus on capitalist development, socio-ecological change, critical agrarian studies, and socio-environmental movements.

Within REAL, she will conduct research on two topics: i) the relationship between geopolitics, extractivism, and degrowth; ii) the antisystemic socio-environmental resistance against extractivist expansion, and how it can inform the politics and framework of degrowth transition(s). Zehra has a background in economics, and holds a PhD in sociology from the State University of New York, Binghamton, USA. She also has extensive field expertise in regional/rural development and participatory planning in Turkey.