Gulfem Cakir received her BSc (Hons) and MSc in Psychological Counselling and Guidance from the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey.   She worked for the Ministry of Education (MONE) from 1999 to 2002, in Turkey. After MONE, she worked as a researcher at METU in several research projects. Since April 2005, Gulfem is a Visiting Training Fellow at European Centre for the Study of Migration and Social Care at University of Kent, and she is currently researching the integration experiences of Turkish-speaking women living in London as a part of her doctoral studies. She is exploring Turkish community organisations and their service provision to the Turkish community in London as a part of this project. She is also working as a research assistant (Part-time) in a project on “Cultural capital during migration” funded by Volkswagen Foundation.