Ekin joined HarvestPlus in 2010 as the Impact and Policy Coordinator. She first joined IFPRI in 2007 as a Research Fellow with the Markets, Trade and Institutions Division. From 2004 to 2007 she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge, she conducted research on the development and application of economic methods to inform sustainable policies for environmental conservation and natural resources management. From 2000 to 2004 Ekin was a Research Fellow of the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE), University College London. She also worked as a consultant for IFPRI’s Environment and Production Technology Division from 2004 to 2005, and for Bioversity International from 2001 to 2004.

Ekin taught graduate and undergraduate level courses at the universities of Cambridge, London and Reading. She obtained a PhD in economics with a concentration in agricultural and resource economics; an MPhil in economics with a concentration in development economics and econometrics, and an MSc in environmental and resource economics, all from University College London. Ekin is a citizen of Turkey and UK.