The “Human Library", an international event, was held in cooperation with Sabancı University Civic Inclusion Projects (CIP) and the Psychology Program of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). The annual event, attended by Sabancı University students, was held this year for the 9th time. 

As with normal libraries, the Human Library consists of readers, librarians, books, and book catalogs. The only difference between this library and the rest is that the books in the Human Library are people like you and us, and they engage in a personal dialogue with their readers as an act of reading. The starting point of the library is “Do not judge the book by its cover!” and the books in this library are representatives of groups that face prejudices and stereotypes, often victims of discrimination and social exclusion. 

The Human Library is an international project organized by non-profit volunteers dedicated themselves to differences in our society. The purpose of the library is to help establish a constructive dialogue between people from different social groups. Established in a comfortable, safe environment, this dialogue becomes the basis for eliminating stereotypes that form the basis of discrimination.  

Ece Demirbolat, a sophomore student at the Psychology Program of FASS, described her impressions as follows: “My favorite time of the year at Sabancı University when the Human Library event is organized. Every year, I take part in the organization team with joy, as I participate in the event with great pleasure. When I first heard about the Human Library, when I found out that there would be people to read here, I was very surprised and excited. I was even more very curious when I learned that the main theme of the event was “Do not judge the book by its cover!” When I heard that the people we were reading were those who were subjected to social exclusion due to stereotypical prejudices, my excitement was replaced by questions that appeared in my mind. And when it was time to find the answers to these questions, I was very impressed by the communication I experienced. It sometimes offered me a chance to empathize, as it made me learn how unfounded these prejudices that I experienced and that made others experienced, whether knowingly or not. The Human Library is a very special event for me because it allows me to talk freely, candidly about what is considered taboo by society, and most importantly, it allows me to understand what is happening outside of the bubble I live in.” 

Another participant of the Human Library, Hilal Kakışım, a sophomore at the Faculty of Management Sciences of Sabancı University explained her impressions as follows: “We all sometimes develop prejudices against each other consciously or without even realizing it. When we have the opportunity to have a personal conversation with people we approach with prejudice, we often realize how unwarranted and meaningless the assumptions we make are. I also wanted to take part in the event this year to remind myself once again how meaningless our prejudices are and to support the event at the organizational level.  

It is a very valuable event not only for readers, but also for books as a platform where they can express themselves with tolerance and respect. At the same time, I believe that the opportunity to meet them in everyday life is also very valuable, to read books that we may never get to read elsewhere. I believe that the way to become a more peaceful and harmonious society is to understand each other and approach each other with tolerance. This is exactly what we provide with this event. I am very happy to be involved in this event, which takes place every year with its various books and hundreds of readers.” 

Another participant of the Human Library, Yiğit Karataş, a sophomore at the Materials Science Program of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) of Sabancı University, shared his impressions as well: “The Human Library is an event that every person should experience at least once in their life. I remember it as if it were just yesterday, in my first year at the university, the commotion in the corridors of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) caught my attention. I was shocked to hear about the concept and joined this adventure by grabbing my two book tickets given per person. Since then, I am very happy to be involved in this project, which I have been regularly involved in every year and switched to the organizational side with the CIP family. 

You get to experience perhaps the purest form of human communication. The person in front of you is sitting with great courage against the tons of misinformation or prejudices you know, and every second from the moment the book opens in its first pages, it is a different experience, a different feeling. The problem is that even with every question, it remains too radical to consider our unconsciousness and prejudices in society. The Human Library gave me the most special moments when I said I am really thankful to be at this university, that I live in such an atmosphere of empathy and tolerance.”

Wizsight, founded by our graduate Özge Akçizmeci Üstün, was acquired by YouGov, a UK-based online market research and data analytics company, last month. Akçizmeci Ustun, Akçizmeci Üstün notes that she designed every step carefully in the founding process of her company, and being a Sabancı graduate helped her a lot in terms of trying to do what has not been done before, synthesizing many sectors, and creating a business network, and says, “now we are backed by a giant company with offices in 40 countries, 3300 customers, and big goals in Turkey”.

We talked with Akçizmeci Üstün about the venture story of Wizsight and the successful career steps that led to the international acquisition.

Can we get to know you first?  How did your career line progress after graduating from Sabancı University’s Economics program in 2005?

After going to the Netherlands in the last year of Sabancı University with the Erasmus program, I completed my master's degree at K.U.Leuven University, Belgium on Social Policy and Analysis. After a 1-year banking adventure in Amsterdam, I started market research at BASES, a consulting branch of Nielsen in Belgium. The fact that my first client was P&G for many years and that there were 19 people of different races in our office gave momentum to my career. After that, I worked in Poland for a while and returned to Turkey in 2010 to set up BASES' office. Starting from 2014, I worked as a director for 3 years at IPSOS, a French research company, both in Turkey and in Switzerland. Then in 2017, I became a partner at Poltio and co-founded Wizsight. Now I am working as the Managing Director of YouGov Turkey.

Could you tell us about the founding story of Wizsight? How did the idea come about? How did you proceed at the founding stage? How did being a Sabancı University graduate help you at that point? 

My grandmother, after whom I was named, was a very successful entrepreneur who started two different businesses in the 60s. So the idea of entrepreneurship has always been in my mind. Having known a lot of women who worked corporate jobs and had difficulties both in their personal life and in motherhood, I decided that entrepreneurship was the right path for me. Frankly, at first, I was very ambivalent about what to do. To clear my mind, I told the company where I was working then that I was leaving and went on a 3-month paid leave in the summer of 2016. During these months, I did research on a wide scale, from life coaching training in New York, to leadership programs at Harvard, even taking over a beauty center. And then I realized that I actually loved my job, but I wanted to do it differently. I focused on the question of how to bring innovation to my own industry. I have read a lot of helpful books, but the most helpful ones for me were Seth Godin and the ‘Blue Ocean’ approach suggested by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. At the foundation stage, I actually moved forward step by step and very calmly, which does not align with my personality. I designed each stage in advance, it took me 4 months to even come up with a name that I was pleased with. Being a member of the Sabancı family, especially trying to do what has not been done, synthesized many sectors for me and helped me a lot in terms of creating a business network. The founder of my second company, Poltio, which I run in parallel with Wizsight and has inspired me in many ways, is also a Sabancı graduate.

You are positioning yourselves as “next-generation research”. Could you tell us a little about the method and point of view that allow this? 

My last job in professional life was working for P&G at IPSOS Geneva. In the process, I realized once again that the research has 3 bleeding wounds. Firstly, we are not fast enough as a sector. Secondly, because some questions are declarative, they are too open to exaggerated (and sometimes inaccurate) answers. Finally, we cannot track digital marketing activities efficiently and accurately enough.

When I founded Wizsight, we tried to find a solution to these 3 items and conducted research by creating tests that allowed people to tell us exactly what was in their mind with fun, test-type constructs. In addition, we have made the research language more intimate, which used to be cumbersome. One of the most important parts is that we have collaborated with advertising and media planning agencies and conducted research using social media targeting with models that have not yet been used in the world before, and measured digital activities. These methods have brought us 4 awards in the Owl Awards of the Turkish Researchers Association (TUAD), including the Special Jury Award in 2020.

How did you cross paths with YouGov? What led YouGov to invest in Wizsight? 

Wizsight had been a focus of attention for acquisition from the beginning. Although the issues of partnership with another British firm had been raised before, I did not believe it was the right time and the right firm at the time. At YouGov, 3 of my friends from BASES, where I used to work in Belgium and Poland, are general managers of Spain, Italy, and the Asia Pacific regions. When our Group CEO said they wanted to enter Turkey, all 3 of them suggested me. I mean, it is actually a complete coincidence. When we met later, both our perspective on research and our personalities fit very well.

Could you share some information about YouGov's investment in (acquisition of) Wizsight? How did the process go? How will the next stage be constructed? 

As I said, we had a flirting period of 14 months, as they were actually in the process of acquiring a company while looking for a general manager in Turkey. At that point, both parties decided that this would be a very good deal, and we signed the papers and got married as everything felt right :) After that, we continue as both an office and a team, but now we are backed by a giant company with offices in 40 countries, 3300 customers, and big goals in Turkey. I will also be the General Manager of YouGov Turkey. I think my role will probably expand further in the future.

What is your advice to our students and graduates who aim and plan to implement their own initiative at Sabancı University? 

First of all, it is a little cliché, but courage is very important here. It is the same as going out of our comfort zone and imagining what has not been seen and what is not expected.  The most important thing that I will add to these two items is that an entrepreneur must definitely say ‘yes’ more than ‘no’. Finally, all entrepreneurs should do their best to support and raise each other. I believe that business life in the future will be much more collective. I hope we will move forward with the logic of 1+1= 4.

Sabancı University Theatre Club actors meet with children living in the Children's Homes Coordination Center (ÇEKOM).

Sabancı University Theatre Club actors (SUOyuncuları) conducted a social responsibility project on the online platform. Meeting with children in the Children's Homes Coordination Center (ÇEKOM) of Balıkesir on the online platform, SUOyuncuları aim to support the self-confidence and the ability to express themselves and to enhance the love of theater in children who are not able to receive sufficient social support. 

SUOyuncuları, who have touched the lives of thousands of children by organizing theater plays aimed at children in recent years, did not allow the pandemic process to prevent them. Keeping in contact with ÇEKOM, SUOyuncuları meet with children through weekly events. 

Students of the Theater Club organized online plays for children and introduced themselves at the first meeting through the Zoom platform on 12 December 2020, Saturday. Their next meeting of SUOyuncuları with children in ÇEKOM will be on 26 December 2020, Saturday.

Our graduate Yonca Cingöz, who won a Şirin Tekeli 2020 Research Award with her work titled “Emotion/Affect, Temporality, and Safe Space in The Feminist Movement: An Example of Relations between Feminist Activists in Istanbul in the 2000s”, says, “This award coincided with a time when I paused due to the pandemic at the first stage of my field study and, similar to many of my friends having their doctorates, I was about to fall into pessimism about the fate of my dissertation, and it was a very valuable support that increased my motivation.” She adds, “I find it important that Sabancı University, of which I am a graduate, supports both SU Gender and relevant programs and courses, as well as opening space for students and academics in an effort to create a safe campus.”

We conducted a special interview with our graduate Yonca Cingöz with the occasion of the Şirin Tekeli 2020 Research Awards. 

First of all, can you briefly talk about yourself? 

Of course. I was born and raised in Ankara and moved to Istanbul when I got into university. I studied at Sabancı University on full scholarship and graduated from the Social and Political Sciences Program in 2004. I started my master's degree at Istanbul Bilgi University’s Cultural Studies Program, but after my father's death, my circumstances changed, and due some negative experiences I had with academics, I stepped into working life. I took a long break from my academic works. I worked as a journalist, an editor. I was a coordinator at an association in the field of publishing. In 2013, I completed my master's degree by submitting my thesis titled “Feminist Philosophy and Deleuze”. I became a mother the following year. In 2017, I started my doctoral studies at the Department of General Sociology and Methodology, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. I am currently a coordinator at a foundation and I am in the dissertation stage of my doctorate. I have also been doing freelance non-fiction translations for several years. Two of my translations have been published.              

How did you decide to apply for the Şirin Tekeli Research Award? How did the process go? 

I was following the studies that received the Şirin Tekeli Research Award since I was very interested in current feminist work. I was thinking of applying when I got to the doctoral dissertation stage. Actually, it went as I planned. Therefore, my award-winning research proposal is based on my doctoral dissertation. It covers part of its fieldwork. I worked hard for about a month during the application process, maturing my research proposal. This allowed me to review and update the literature review and field research plan of my doctoral dissertation. 

Could you tell us a little bit about the research subject? What stage are you at right now with the research process? 

The title of my research subject is “Emotion/Affect, Temporality, and Safe Space in The Feminist Movement: An Example of Relations between Feminist Activists in Istanbul in the 2000s”. I will investigate the relationships between activists who took part in the feminist movement in Turkey in the 2000s in the context of emotion/affect, temporality, and safety. My work, which will be based on in-depth interviews with activists involved in independent feminist organizations active in Istanbul during this period and document review, will feed on methods of narrative analysis and discourse analysis, as well as current literature that looks at the sharing and transfer of feminist activist memory, remembering feelings of activism. First, I did my literature review and completed three interviews. I will continue with journal reviews and interviews. 

Could you share your expectations and goals about your research?

At the end of my research, I expect to reach initial conclusions about the possibilities of creating feminist “safe spaces” and improve this analysis by sharing and discussing it with relevant researchers in the presentation. Immediately after the presentation, I will proceed to the analysis process of my doctoral dissertation work. 

Could you tell us about your feelings and thoughts about the award? 

This award coincided with a time when I paused due to the pandemic at the first stage of my field study and, similar to many of my friends having their doctorates, I was about to fall into pessimism about the fate of my dissertation, and it was a very valuable support that increased my motivation, and a lifelong memory. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the SU Gender team and the jury members who contributed to the continuation of this award so that we are aware of many horizon-opening research processes every year.

How do you see gender and women's studies conducted in Turkey? Could you evaluate SU Gender's work in this context? Could you talk the contribution of Sabancı University to this field in general? 

I see gender and women’s studies in Turkey as one of the most fundamental veins that shape feminist subjectivity and feed feminist activism. Many young women participated in street activism by studying in these departments and with the excitement of what they learned from their teachers, who gave life to these departments, or influenced and changed those around them by reflecting feminist ideas and attitudes to everyday life. In a time when anti-gender movements are on the rise in the world, when the budgets of gender, women, and sexuality studies departments and research centers are being cut, and their voices are being silenced, the importance of maintaining presence and activity is even greater. For me, SU Gender has a very valuable position among the centers in this field, as it strives to spread knowledge and experience to very different groups by adopting various forms of activity such as giving awards, training, memory walks, not only limited to academic programs and publications in this field thanks to its hardworking team. I find it important that Sabancı University, of which I am a graduate, supports both SU Gender and relevant programs and courses, as well as opening space for students and academics in an effort to create a safe campus.  

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Yıldız, the Deputy Rector of Sabancı University in Charge of Research and a Faculty Member at the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS), Assoc. Dr. Burcu Saner Okan, a Researcher at SU IMC, and Dr. Bertan Beylergil, a Faculty Member at Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, was found eligible to be supported under the call for applications of BOREN (National Boron Research Institute) titled “Production and Application of Organobor Compounds and Boron Polymers”. 

The project titled “Design and development of multi-functional hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) reinforced thermoset and thermoplastic-based hybrid composites that can be used in the thermal management of aerospace systems” coordinated by Sabancı University also involves Eurotec Engineering Plastics as the industrial stakeholder and AIMPLAS, a Spanish Plastic Research Center, as the subcontractor. Additionally, the organizations supporting the project, namely BOEING, TUSAŞ, and ROKETSAN, will share the characteristics that the materials produced should have throughout the project and take on a guiding role. 

The two-year project involves the production and characterization of h-BN reinforced thermoset and thermoplastic composite systems and different byproducts that can be used in thermal management applications in the aerospace sector with commercialization potential.

The patented nano-clay-reinforced food packaging technology, developed at Sabancı University and Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM) to prolong the shelf life of food products, was licensed by TreeT BUBA Agriculture and Technology Company.

The technology, which received patent certificates in the United States, Turkey, and 5 different European countries, was licensed to TreeT BUBA, an agricultural company of BUBA Ventures. The project licensed to TreeT BUBA was submitted to TÜBİTAK’s Call for Patent License (1516) and was found eligible for support by TÜBİTAK and became one of the 14 projects supported. 

With the licensing agreement signed, these packaging films that extend the shelf life of food products will be available to the consumer in the coming period. 

Vegetables and fruits will no longer perish 

The packaging material developed aims to prevent spoilage of food. Packaging film containing nano-clay can absorb gases released by fruits and vegetables causing them to spoil. In addition, when these packaging films are reinforced with anti-bacterial agents, the formation of bacteria on food is prevented. The nano-clay in the packaging serves as a barrier, preventing the entry of gases that cause spoilage. 

Studies have shown that foods such as tomatoes, strawberries, greens, bananas, and chicken meat, which can perish quickly even in the refrigerator, have significantly longer shelf life when packaged with the packaging films developed. 

The technology was developed within the scope of the TÜBİTAK ARDEB 1003 project under the coordination of Hayriye Ünal, a Researcher at SUNUM, and Yusuf Menceloğlu and Fevzi Çakmak Cebeci, Faculty Members at the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) of Sabancı University, and Serkan Ünal, a Researcher at the Integrated Manufacturing Center (IMC).

A team consisting of scientists from the United States of America and the Netherlands identified the most influential scientists of the world based on variables such as number of scientific papers, number of citations, number of authors, authorship position, and citation to own paper and using a composite indicator scientific impact index.

The study classifying 161,000 top scientists of the world into 22 scientific fields and 176 subfields was carried out under the coordination of Stanford University and published in the scientific journal named Plos Biology. The study was conducted on researchers who had published at least 5 papers by filtering Scopus data up to May 2020 and listed 161 thousand scientists. 

Yusuf Leblebici, İsmail Çakmak, Erhan Budak, Emre Erdem, Ali Koşar, Lütfi Taner Tunç, and Yaşar Gürbüz, Faculty Members at the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, S. Arzu Wasti, a Faculty Member at the Faculty of Management Sciences, Henning Stichtenoth, our Emeritus Faculty Member, and Yuda Yürüm, who we lost last year, have been included in The List of The Most Influential Scientists of The World, which included 857 scientists from Turkey.

A promotional event for the ENRICH in Brazil Project, which is sponsored by the European Union and where Sabancı University is the Turkish project partner, took place online on 30 November 2020, Monday.

In addition to general information about the international project, Berna Beyhan, a Faculty Member at the Faculty of Management Sciences, provided information about the ENRICH in Brazil’s activities, services, opportunities for cooperation between the EU and Brazil, and the support provided to this end.  

Enrich in Brazil (formerly known as CEBRABIC), in which a project partner of Sabancı University, is a pilot center established by the European Network of Research and Innovation Centres and Hubs in Brazil. Apart from Brazil, 8 different organizations from Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Hungary, Austria, Spain, and Turkey contribute to the project. Sabancı University is the Turkish partner of the project.  

The consortium aims to develop research, innovation, and business relations between Europe and Brazil, and to share innovation practices, experience, and knowledge between organizations. Founded as a non-profit partnership, ENRICH in Brazil aims to provide and strengthen science, technology, and innovation-oriented collaboration by bringing together organizations from different fields and industries from Europe and Brazil.

You can visit the website of ENRICH in BRAZIL at https://brazil.enrichcentres.eu/ or contact them at brazil@enrichcentres.eu to learn more about the project’s activities.

As part of the Supporting Public Institutions for Tendering Preparations (STEP) Project, the “Leadership Development Program” designed for EU Experts serving at the Directorate for European Union Affairs was completed in virtual classrooms with the cooperation between the Executive Development Unit (EDU) of Sabancı University and Yenibirlider Association.

The 6-module program took place with 8 half-days of virtual classroom and a video training. In addition to lectures, the program included 4 different Inspiring Speech Sessions organized by Yenibirlider Association. The program continued with lectures on New World Order After Covid-19, Networking and Collaborations, Digital Transformation and Industry 4.0, Personal Leadership and Development, Negotiation and Persuasion, Being an Effective Team, Leadership in VUCA World, Strategic Thinking, and VUCA World. 

Sabancı University Executive Development Unit (EDU) is a development partner of Yenibirlider Association as well as the Directorate of European Union Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The project of Nihan ALP, a Faculty Member at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) of Sabancı University, was found eligible to be supported within the scope of TÜBİTAK Career Development Program 3501.

Nihan Alp’s project titled “Monitoring The Neural Representation of Local-Global Motion Perception in EEG Signals with Intermodulation Frequencies by Separating in An Objective Way” was found eligible to be supported within the scope of TÜBİTAK Career Development Program 3501 which aims to encourage postdoctoral researchers at the beginning of their careers by supporting their research projects. Thus, the program serves to support the works of young researchers who will assume the academic leadership of the 21st century, to ensure young scientists have the best possible career both as researchers and educators, and to improve the nation’s scientific level, and to enhance the role of science in the development of the country.

Information about the content of Nihan Alp's project is as follows: “The process of local-global perception, which is an ability that we often use in our daily lives, is one of the main questions in the neuroscience literature. For example, the ability to read is to be able to create and perceive a word (global) by combining many letters (local) in the correct order. It is believed that reading difficulties of patients with dorsal simultanagnosia and dyslexia are caused by a lack of functionality in local-global perception mechanisms. It is also known that in autism spectrum disorders, the visual processing process of local-global perception is not typical. The process of visual processing of local-global perception is also important in the perception of motion. The ability to see movement is crucial in that it supports basic visually-oriented behaviors such as finding direction and breaking camouflage. Local-global motion perception, which is a core perceptual event, occurs as a result of the combination of these two basic features of the visual system (local-global and motion perception), which allows us, for example, to understand the direction and speed of cars when crossing the road. The aim of this project is to monitor the neural representations (temporal monitoring of local and global motion perception in brain signals) of the local-global motion perception, which is one of the most fundamental cornerstones of the visual system, in an objective way (mathematically, computationally, clearly, and consistently, in a defined and measurable way) by separating them.” 

We congratulate our Faculty Member.