Danial Vahabli
Sociology PhD Student, B.Sc in Physics
I’m a political sociologist interested in the intersection of resistance, culture, and globalization. I’m currently a sociology PhD student at Stony Brook University, NY and a graduate fellow of Institute for Advanced Computational Science.
In my dissertation project I focus on international support to domestic social movements. I investigate how and why domestic dissidents seek international support, how domestic concerns are represented in the international media, and lastly the impact of international support on domestic movements. Additionally, I am interested in conceptualizing the popular resistance culture under authoritarianism, by focusing on public yet transgressive spaces. In my research I rely on a mixed methods approach combining computational methods with qualitative analysis.
Prior to finding my way to sociology, I earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Middle East Technical University in Turkey. During my undergraduate studies, my academic focus centered on analyzing the collective behavior of complex systems using CUDA-accelerated agent-based simulation models.
Research Projects
Awards and Scholarships
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Winner of Conflict, Social Action, and Change Division's Graduate Student Paper Award by Society for the Study of Social Problems, 2025 for paper titled "Mentioning the Unmentionable: Perception of Opportunities, Agency, Emotions, and Identity in Iranian Resistance Rap prior and during the Women, Life, Freedom Uprisings"
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Hanan Selvin Award for outstanding quantitative and/or methodological paper from Stony Brook University’s Sociology department for paper titled "From the Global South to the World Stage: A Study of Global Frame Resonance Using a Comparative Case of Women, Life, Freedom and Bloody November in Iran"
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Beneficiary of the graduate fellowship of the Institute of Advanced Computational Sciences.
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Beneficiary of TUTÜBÄ°TAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) Scholarship for my Work With Prof. Serim Ilday.