Seval Gündemir received her bachelor and master degrees in Work and Organizational Psychology from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (both cum laude). She received the NWO Mosaic grant to conduct PhD-research on the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in leadership roles. During her PhD, she received the Fulbright grant to conduct research on the effects of diversity policies on minority leadership emergence at Yale University, Psychology Department. She defended her PhD-thesis titled “The Minority Glass Ceiling Hypothesis” in 2015. After her PhD, she received the NWO Rubicon grant to continue her research on female and racial-ethnic minority leadership. She worked at Columbia Business School, Management Division from 2015 to 2017 as a post-doctoral research scholar. In August 2017, she joined the University of Amsterdam as an assistant professor of Work and Organizational Psychology (tenured).

Dr. Gündemir's research program focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion. The themes she currently studies include:

• Organizational Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives: the determinants of the (in)effectiveness of DEI-initiatives inorganizations, employee resistance to diversity initiatives 
• Diversity in leadership positions: the individual and contextual factors that hinder or encourage traditionally underrepresented groups (e.g., women, racial-ethnic minorities, LGBT) to attain and hold organizational leadership roles
• The psychology of underrepresented and negatively stereotyped groups: racial and gender harassment in organizations, underrepresented groups' resilience to bias and discrimination, psychology of older employees, LGBTQ+ employees (e.g., as part of a FWOS-grant)
• Teams in organizations: dynamics in working groups, diversity in teams
• Intercultural contact and learning: multi-directional cultural change following cultural contact
• Inclusive educational institutions: the effects of the multicultural approach on establishing inclusion and psychological safety in the multi-national classroom (e.g., as part of NRO's Comenius fellowship [completed], and NWO's Advancing Equity in Academia Thorugh Innovation grant [2023-2026])

Dr. Gündemir teaches:

• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
• Teams in Organizations
• Bachelor project (both in Dutch and in English)
• Master thesis (both in Dutch and in English)

Publications

Gündemir, S., Homan, A. C., & Greer, L. L. (2023). Overcoming the Inclusion Facade. MIT Sloan Management Review, 64(3), 1-4.

Gündemir, S., Kirby, T.A. (2022). Diversity Approaches in Organizations: A Leadership Perspective. In: Marques, J., Dhiman, S. (eds) Leading With Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Future of Business and Finance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95652-3_2

De Leersnyder, J., Gündemir, S., & Agirdag, O.  (2021). Diversity approaches matter in international classrooms: How perceiving a multicultural approach buffers cultural misunderstandings and encourages inclusion and psychological safety. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.1983534

Homan, A.C., Gündemir, S., Buengeler, C. & Van Kleef, G. (2020).  Leading diversity: Towards a theory of functional leadership in teams. Journal of Applied Psychology,105(10), 1101-1128. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000482

Gündemir S., Martin A.E. & Homan A.C. (2019) Understanding Diversity Ideologies From the Target’s Perspective: A Review and Future Directions. Frontiers in Psychology,10:282. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00282

Gündemir, S., Carton, A. M., & Homan, A. C. (2019). The impact of organizational performance on the emergence of Asian American leaders. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104, 107-122. doi: 10.1037/apl0000347

Does, S., Gündemir, S., & Shih, M. (2018, June). How Sexual Harassment Affects a Company’s Public Image. Harvard Business Review.

Gündemir, S. (2018). Diversiteitsideologieën in Organisaties: Verleden, Heden, en Toekomst. Gedrag & Organisatie, 31, 235-261.

Does, S., Gündemir, S., & Shih, M. (2018). The Divided States of America: How the 2016 US Presidential Election Shaped Perceived Levels of Gender Equality. Social Psychological and Personality Science, doi: 10.1177/1948550618757033.

Gündemir, S., & Galinsky, A. D. (2017). Multicolored Blindfolds: How Organizational Multiculturalism Can Conceal Racial Discrimination and Delegitimize Racial Discrimination Claims. Social Psychological and Personality Science. doi: 10.1177/1948550617726830

Gündemir, S., Homan, A.C., Usova, A. & Galinsky, A.D. (2017) Multicultural meritocracy: The synergistic benefits of valuing both diversity and merit. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 73, 34-41.

Gündemir, S., Dovidio, J. F., Homan, A.C., & De Dreu, C.K.W. (2017). The Impact of Organizational Diversity Policies on Minority Employees’ Leadership Self-Perceptions and Goals. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 24, 172-188. doi: 10.1177/1548051816662615

Gündemir, S. (2015). The minority glass ceiling hypothesis. Exploring reasons and remedies for the underrepresentation of racial-ethnic minorities in leadership positions. (Doctoral dissertation). Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Gündemir, S., Homan, A.C., de Dreu C.K.W., & van Vugt M. (2014). Think leader, think white? Capturing and weakening an implicit pro-white leadership bias. PLoS ONE, 9(1): e83915. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083915

Gündemir, S., Homan, A.C., Van Vugt, M., & De Dreu, C. K. W. (2013). Hé, dat is mijn plek: Etniciteit, leiderschap en fysieke afstand. In Dotsch, R. (Ed) Jaarboek Sociale Psychologie 2013. Groningen: ASPO Pers.

Kleef, G.A. van, Homan, A.C., Finkenauer, C., Gündemir, S. & Stamkou, E. (2011). Breaking the rules to rise to power: How norm violators gain power in the eyes of others. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 500-507. doi: 10.1177/1948550611398416