Having earned undergraduate and graduate degrees, respectively, in theology and Islamic studies, Arzu Eylül Yalçınkaya focuses mainly on the intersections of Sufism with modernity. Currently, she is a faculty member at the Institute for Sufi Studies, Uskudar University, the first higher education institute dedicated to Sufi studies in Turkey. At CMES, she is working on her project entitled "Bridging Role of the Sufi Intellectuals between the Late Ottoman Empire and Early Republican Turkey." This project explores prominent Sufi intellectuals' responses to the Republican reforms and how these figures represented a consensus between the secular principles and tradition. Yalçınkaya has full working proficiency in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, English, and Persian. Her most recent work, "Key Concepts in Aḥmad al-Rifāʿi'sal-Rifāʿi's Understanding of Ṣūfism: Humility, Helplessness, Servility, Fragility, Destitute, Poverty," appeared in Journal of the Institute for Sufi Studies.