Birgül Akolpoglu is a Scientific Project Manager at the Scientific Coordination Office at MPI-IS and Coordinator for Robotics Institute Germany (RIG) at the institute.

Before her career in science management, Birgül was a doctoral researcher at the Physical Intelligence Department, where she worked on microalgae and bacteria-based microrobots for biomedical applications. Birgül received her doctoral degree (Dr. sc.) in Information Technology and Electrical Engineering from ETH Zurich in 2023. 

In her free time, Birgül enjoys reading and writing, and she wrote and edited articles for The Offspring Magazine of the Max Planck Society PhDnet and Materials Research Society (MRS) Bulletin. She previously served as PhD student representative at MPI Stuttgart campus.