Birgül Akolpoglu is the Coordinator for Robotics Institute Germany (RIG) at the Scientific Coordination Office of Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.

Previously, 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. She continued her research with a brief stint as a postdoctoral scientist before joining the Scientific Coordination Office in 2024.

Birgül 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.