Professor Gülnur Aybet assumed her duties as Permanent Representative of the Republic of Türkiye to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 15 December 2021.

Professor Aybet was Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of Türkiye from 2016 to 2021 and member of the Presidential Security and Foreign Policy Council between 2018-2021.

She is an adjunct professor at the Turkish National Defense University since 2018.She was professor of international relations at Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, between 2017-2018 and Head of Department of Political Science and International Relations at Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, between 2014-2016.In 2013, she founded the Department of International Relations at Özyeğin University Istanbul.

Between 2001-2013 she was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Kent, England, where she created and directed the first MA programme in International Security. She also held academic posts at the University of Nottingham, England and Bilkent University, Türkiye. She was also a visiting professor at the NATO Defence College, the Turkish War Colleges, and the Universities of Sabancı and Bilgi in Turkey.

She holds a BA Hons degree in Economics and Public Administration from Royal Holloway, University of London, an MSc in International Relations from the University of Southampton, an MPhil in War Studies from King’s College, University of London and a PhD in International Relations from the University of Nottingham.

Professor Aybet was a principal investigator to research projects funded by NATO, British Academy and TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye). She has held visiting scholar posts at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington D.C. and at St Antony’s College, Oxford University, where she was also a Senior Associate Member of the College.

She was a member of the World Economic Forum, Global Future Council on Europe for the period 2019-2020.