Polina Ivanova entered the History PhD program in 2012. Geographically, her research interests encompass the wide region between eastern Mediterranean and eastern Iran covering history of the Byzantine Empire, medieval Anatolia and Iran, as well as the early Ottoman Empire. Thematically, she  is interested in studying history of migration  and cross-cultural communication, as well application of archaeology and oral history/ethnography in the study of premodern history. In her dissertation she investigates the demographic and cultural remaking of one region of Anatolia between the 11th and the 14th century when this place slowly transformed from being eastern frontier of the Mediterranean world to being western frontier of Iran. Polina holds a B.A. from Bogazici University (Turkey) and M.A. from Harvard University.