Dr. Elif Sari Genc is a scholar of comparative electoral institutions and intersectional representation. Her research investigates how political elites strategically leverage gender, race, and ethnicity during periods of democratic backsliding, with a regional focus on Europe and the Middle East.

Dr. Genc is currently finalizing her book manuscript, Symbolic Leverage: Gender, Religious Identity, and Electoral Competition in Polarized Turkey. Building on her research published in Politics & Gender, the book argues that parties nominate candidates with specific identity markers—such as secular-appearing women in Islamist parties—to signal moderation without altering core platforms. Additionally, her co-authored work in Party Politics examines the "experience premium" and nomination pathways for women in varied electoral systems.

Distinguished by a rigorous mixed-methods approach, Dr. Genc’s work bridges in-depth elite interviews with computational analysis, utilizing Large Language Models (LLMs) and survey experiments to interrogate elite strategic behavior. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Affairs and Policy from Portland State University and has served as faculty at Portland State University and Özyeğin University, teaching courses on Comparative Politics, Middle Eastern Politics, European Union Politics, Women’s Leadership, and Public Policy.