I am excited to begin the Laidlaw program and work on a project that combines my interests in global health, migration, and data systems. I am particularly looking forward to engaging with scholars from different academic backgrounds and learning how they approach research questions that have real-world implications.

Over the coming weeks, I plan to establish a clear research workflow with my mentor and begin by conducting a comprehensive literature review on refugee health systems in Turkey. I will focus on understanding how electronic medical records and public health databases classify refugee populations, as well as identifying existing gaps in the literature. I also plan to compile and review datasets and reports from organizations such as the Turkish Ministry of Health, WHO, UNHCR, and the SIHHAT project. Using Python, I hope to compare how different sources define and track refugee populations, identify inconsistencies in classification, and begin creating visualizations that highlight where refugees become statistically invisible within health data systems.

In addition, I will start reaching out to researchers and practitioners working in refugee health to better understand the practical implications of these data gaps. By the end of the first few weeks, I hope to have a strong understanding of the existing research landscape, a refined methodology, and a clear plan for the data analysis and interviews that will shape the remainder of my project.