Executive Project Manager

Defne Aslan is Executive Project Manager and a member of the Administrative Team for the Climate and Water Initiative. She is a 2025 graduate of the University of Southern California (USC), where she received a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and double-minored in Environmental Studies and Cinematic Arts.

Defne is currently an intern with the Agrifood Economics and Policy Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations headquarters in Rome, Italy, where she works on the Global Policy Roadmap and Strategic Foresight teams. Previously, she interned with the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Economy and Environment Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Middle East Institute’s Climate and Water Program. Beginning in Fall 2026, she will pursue a two-year dual Master’s program at Sciences Po and the London School of Economics and Political Science in Environmental Policy and International Political Economy.

Defne speaks Turkish, French, and English, and has professional working proficiency in Spanish.

Areas of Expertise:

• Global Food and Water Security

• Agrifood Economics and Policy

• International Energy Transition