İpek İlkkaracan is a full-time Professor of Economics at Istanbul Technical University in Turkey; a research scholar with the Levy Economics Institute in New York, a research fellow with the Economic Research Forum (ERF) in Cairo and an associate editor with Feminist Economics. Ipek’s research interests lie in economic and social policy, the care economy and time-use, gender and macroeconomics, political economy of gender, labor markets and development.  Between 2009-2013, instigated by her collaborations with the Turkish and German Greens, she developed the concept of the ‘Purple Economy’, which depicts a gender-egalitarian, caring and sustainable economy. The concept was adopted as a policy advocacy tool by feminist organizations such as the European Women’s Lobby (Brussels), the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia-Pacific (Kuala Lumpur) and Women for Women’s Human Rights-New Ways (Istanbul). She has been involved as an activist and development practitioner with feminist NGOs and development agencies. She is a founding member of Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways, Women’s Labor and Employment Platform in Turkey, the ITU Women’s Studies Center and the Gender and Macroeconomics GEM-Europe Network.  She works with development agencies such as the ILO, UNDP, UN ESCAP, UN Women and the IMF in the context of various applied policy research studies, development of policy tools and training, focusing for most part on Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe.