about me

Hej! Merhaba! Hello! I’m Derya, a researcher working on data visualization technology from a feminist lens. I work mostly with entanglement theories to explore how the tools we use to graphically communicate information is shaped by and shapes relationships across power, people, and the environment. My motivation is to create accessible, care-ful, and imaginative data visualizations that can participate in building new relationships with data and others.

I am currently a researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. I received my PhD in Computer Science with a focus on data visualization, feminism, and human computer interaction from the Linköping University in 2025, contributing to co-building of the new Visual Interaction Design lab.

current research topics: feminist/critical data visualization; alternative research outcomes; input visualization; missing data; data quality; visualization literacy

let’s work together!

research is fun when it is done together ✶⋆.˚
I am open to: collaborating, chit-chatting, and supervising topics on:
 ⊹ ࣪˖ participatory VIS & HC(A)I
⋆˚࿔ data physicalization
  ✮⋆˙input visualizations
₊⊹ visualization theory
 ⋆𖦹⭒ feminist vis
and other topics at the intersection of tech x society more broadly

prior to my PhD

I received a Masters in Computing from the University of Utah. Prior to that, I worked for six years at a boutique economics research firm in New York City, leading the design and data visualization team. This is where I fell in love with the potential to make data interesting with visualizations. My Bachelors Degree is in Labor Relations, Economics, and Cognitive Science from Cornell University.