Meysune Yaşar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at İstanbul Medeniyet University. She received her PhD from İstanbul Medeniyet University with a dissertation examining defense diplomacy and Sino–American rivalry in the South China Sea. She is the author of Sino-American Rivalry in the South China Sea (2010–2019) and co-editor of Asia Anew in 21st Century Turkish Foreign Policy. Between October 2024 and June 2025, she was a Visiting Researcher at the University of Exeter, where she conducted the research project “Ontologically Insecure Waters: A Comparative Analysis of the Eastern Mediterranean and the South China Sea in the Nineteenth Century”. Dr. Yaşar’s primary areas of research include theories of international relations, maritime security and strategy and foreign policy analysis.