Meet this year’s IERES PhD Student Fellows, a cohort of emerging scholars whose research spans the diverse regions and themes at the heart of our institute. Learn more about their work and academic backgrounds below.
Helen Martin is a 2nd-year PhD student in Anthropology at George Washington University. Her research interests include the ethical treatment of human remains in museum contexts, provenance research, repatriation, memorialization, and the body as a site of meaning production. She intends to conduct multi-sited research in museums in Germany and the United States for her dissertation. She also holds an M.A. in Anthropology and an M.A. in German Studies from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Over the past summer, Helen participated in a research internship at the Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology at the Smithsonian, where she conducted research with archival materials and objects from collections curated by the Metcalf sisters and the Philippine Commission to interrogate legacies of US colonialism and what it means to create a ‘representative’ collection. In her spare time, Helen can be found reading a fantasy book, working on a craft project, or social dancing.
Brynne Rebele-Henry was a 2021–2022 Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies. She received a Master’s of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution in 2025. Currently, she is a 1st-year doctoral student in Anthropology at George Washington University. Her research interests include the forensic identification of missing persons, genocide, feminicide, and transitional justice processes. She intends to conduct research on how women experience reproductive control through disparities in access to clinical abortion care during recent state crisis with threat of secession between Bosnia and Herzegovina’s two governing bodies. She is also the author of three poetry collections and a novel. Her second novel is forthcoming in March 2026 from Soho Press.
Müge Uğuz is a Ph.D. candidate in the Political Science department at George Washington University, specializing in Comparative Politics with a minor in Research Methods. Her research interests include nationalism, migration, and political regimes. Her current work focuses on state–diaspora relations, particularly the implementation of voting rights for citizens abroad. Before beginning her Ph.D. in Washington, D.C., she worked at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – UN Migration, Turkey Office. She earned her B.A. in International Relations, with a minor in Communication and Design, from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, and holds an M.A. in Nationalism Studies from Central European University in Vienna, Austria.