Mira Demirdirek is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Political Science under Prof. Dr. Thomas Diez. Since March 2022, she has been working as a research assistant at the Institute for Middle Eastern Studies at the GIGA Institute in Hamburg in the DFG-funded research project "Explaining Middle-Power Engagement in External Regions: A Comparison of Iranian, Saudi, and Turkish Sub-Saharan Africa Policies".

Previously, Mira studied Political Science and Sociology at the University of Hamburg and the University of Ghana (B.A.), and completed her M.A. in African Studies at Leiden University. During her studies, she worked first as an intern and then as a student assistant at the GIGA Institute for African Affairs. For her Master's thesis, she completed an internship with the Tanzanian refugee advocacy NGO Dignity Kwanza. The research was part of the broader research consortium "Transnational Figurations of Displacement" (TRAFIG). 

For her PhD, Mira is examining the (dis)continuities of Turkish foreign policy toward Africa.