Zeynep Egeli is a security specialist with a background in intelligence analysis and crisis management.
She is a graduate of Leiden University in the Netherlands and has experience working for various
international and governmental organisations, and NGOs.
Egeli holds a widely multidisciplinary and versatile academic background which has fed into her
analytical capacity. An awardee of Holland Scholarship, she received her BA in International Studies
from Leiden University, where she studied politics, economy, history, and culture, and specialised in
Latin America. In parallel, she also completed a Minor in Intelligence Studies where she earned the
Kluitersprijs, an award for the best students in the minor, and she was in the Honours College, a
special programme offered to the most successful students, from which she graduated in 2018 after
completing her capstone project on social sustainability. Later, Egeli received Leiden Excellence
Scholarship and continued her studies at Leiden University to obtain an MSc in Crisis and Security
Management.
Before joining GLOCAL Group, Egeli made use of her analytical skills at a variety of reputed
organisations. She was the Team Leader of a student research project organised by Leiden University
for Transparency International Netherlands, where she led a team of 13 student consultants to
define corruption victimhood. Upon finishing her studies, she worked as an intern at the
International Criminal Court’s Country Analysis Unit. During her ten-month internship that coincided
with the COVID-19 pandemic, Egeli supported the Crisis Management Team and contributed to the
analytical activities of the Unit. Afterwards, Egeli worked as a trainee at the Prince Claus Fund for
Culture and Development, a charity funded by the Dutch royal family, where she was tasked with
streamlining the Cultural Emergency Response Team’s emergency research capabilities. All the
while, drawing on a 2017 summer internship at the Turkish Ministry of Interior’s Ant-Smuggling
Coordination Department, she assisted the organization until 2019 by offering her insights and
guidance. Egeli continues to provide support in security matters to the International Council of
Monuments and Sites’ International Committee on Risk Preparedness and its Turkish national
committee.
Egeli speaks fluent Turkish, French, and English, has good command of Spanish and Portuguese, is
still working on her Dutch and Greek, and contends with her basic understanding of Latin and Hittite.