Meral Acikgoz is a National Program Officer at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Migration Agency, in Turkey. For the past 13 years, she has worked at IOM in various capacities, advising on migration policies and laws. Ms. Acikgoz is currently responsible for the Integration and Social Cohesion Program of IOM Turkey. She has worked with the government to develop Turkey’s first Strategy Documents and National Action Plans on Integration and Irregular Migration, which were adopted respectively in 2015 and 2018. As a counsellor at IOM, Ms. Acikgoz was part of the team at the Ministry of Interior that drafted the Law on Foreigners and International Protection, which was adopted in 2013 as Turkey’s first immigration law. She has also developed and implemented projects with local governments to establish municipality migrant centers, which provide mainstreamed services for refugees and migrants, and are the first of their kind in Turkey. Ms. Acikgoz holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in International Relations from Middle East Technical University and Galatasaray University in Turkey, respectively. During her fellowship year, she aims to enhance her knowledge of public policy analysis and practices in the United States in an effort to contribute to migration policies in Turkey.