Berrin Yanıkkaya is a Professor of Communication Studies. The areas of her academic interest lie in the crossroads of Women’s Studies, Cultural Studies and Media Studies. From the very beginning of her academic career, her focus has been on the construction of female agency through cultural and media production and meaning-making processes. The main themes underlining her academic publications can be summarized in four interrelated ‘tensions’; presence-absence/ unity-difference/ appearance-essence/ ‘west’- ‘east’ (as metaphors for the categories of power relations, rather than geographical places). The underlying themes in her work are women's 'voice' and experiences in media and culture as the participants of public sphere, the users and producers of counter public sphere, and the producers and active listeners/users/audience of cultural production. She has taken part in various international steering committees and served on editorial boards for different matters.