Çiğdem is responsible for the design, implementation, and evaluation of ADB projects as well as policy advice, capacity building and knowledge dissemination in the field of public sector management.
Prior to ADB, she was teaching economics at the George Washington University as a lecturer and at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) as an assistant professor. Along with her academic career, she was a researcher at the IMF and at the Asian Development Bank Institute in Japan.
Cigdem Akin holds a Ph.D degree in economics from the George Washington University in the United States and a MA degree in international development from the International University of Japan as a Monbusho scholar. Her dual BA degrees are on international relations and political science, and sociology from Boğaziçi University in Türkiye.