Aslihan Deniz Bilgehan, Doctoral Visiting Fellow, shares her experiences about her stay at Sciences Po Law School

Aslihan Deniz Bilgehan is a Ph.D. student in Public Law at Galatasaray University Faculty of Law >in Turkey. She also works as a research and teaching assistant in administrative law at Istanbul Beykent University. In 2015, she graduated from Koç University Law School. In 2018, she completed her master's degree in administrative law at Istanbul University. During this period, she went to Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and carried out research at Bibliothèque Cujas for a year. Taking inspiration from French administrative law, she completed her master's thesis on the Limits of Administrative Tutelage on Public Institutions. Subsequently, she started her doctoral studies at Galatasaray University Public Law Doctoral Program. Following a year of intensive courses on public law at Galatasaray University, she passed the qualifying exam, which seriously assessed her knowledge of public law. After the exam, her research proposal on the legality of the digital transformation of public administration was accepted. In the pursuit of a year of work on this thesis, she submitted her research proposal to Sciences Po Law School, a leading institution in this field, and applied to be a visiting researcher. She worked as a visiting researcher at Sciences Po between September 2022 and March 2023. Read her story here:

I am writing my Ph.D. thesis on the digital transformation of the Turkish government in the light of comparative law. According to the problematic stated in the thesis, public service is rapidly digitalizing, but in some cases, digitalization restricts or prevents access to public services. My thesis aims to regulate issues such as the digital divide, security, and algorithm neutrality in line with Rolland's Laws. While working on my thesis, I realized that Sciences Po is doing serious studies in this field, so I enthusiastically applied to be a visiting researcher.

I conducted research at Sciences Po Law School under the supervision of Professor Beatriz Botero Arcila. I participated in "Sciences Po Law and Tech Working Group" during this period. For now, I am following them online. This working group has regular seminars and discussions on the connection between digital transformation and law. In these meetings, I directly exchanged ideas with my supervisor, my colleagues in the working group, and speakers from different universities. Furthermore, the Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair at Sciences Po organized several symposia related to my thesis subject. When I look at this research process, I think that this period was like a school for my thesis. I reached important research results on the digital transformation of the Turkish public administration. I presented my research results to the Law School at the doctoral program colloquium. I received feedback from both my supervisor and the other faculty members about my research.

I also benefited a lot as someone who trains to become an administrative law professor in Turkey. Through the doctoral program's working groups on methodology, I directly communicated with law professors and benefited from their experiences.

Finally, I would like to emphasize that the process of academic research should not only be about knowledge but also self-improvement and Sciences Po has contributed a lot to this. When I look back on my research stay at Sciences Po, I realize that the most important part for me was the human relationships. The international nature of Sciences Po is very prominent. There are Ph.D. students from many different countries. Many enthusiastic researchers from different parts of the world meet at Sciences Po. Thus, I was able to establish permanent and hearty cooperations. This aspect of Sciences Po is unforgettable for me.