Sabancı University’s Sakıp Sabancı Museum is hosting the “Distant Neighbours, Close Memories: 600 Years of Turkish-Polish Relations” exhibition on 7 March – 15 June 2014 to commemorate the 600th anniversary of relations between Turkey and Poland. 

The exhibition is opening under the patronage of the presidents of Turkey and Poland, supported by the ministries of foreign affairs and culture in both countries, with exhibits loaned from the collections of museums, archives, libraries, monasteries and churches in Poland, together with objects from Topkapı Palace Museum, the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art and Sadberk Hanım Museum in Turkey, making a total of 348 exhibits.

The exhibition has been organized with the financial and institutional support of Sakıp Sabancı Museum and its esteemed sponsors and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. It is accompanied by a wide range of cultural and art events. 

The “Distant Neighbours, Close Memories: 600 Years of Turkish-Polish Relations” exhibition covers a period beginning in the first half of the 15th century and continuing with trade, peace and war up to the late 17th century, when the Second Siege of Vienna became a turning point not just in relations between Ottoman Turkey and Poland, but in the history of Europe.

In this context, historical developments in the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Poland are reflected in documents, maps, paintings, personal possessions of eminent figures, accessories and printed material. The exhibition presents visitors with examples of trade goods, and Ottoman tents, weapons and other artefacts abandoned after the army’s defeat at the Siege of Vienna, alongside objects that illustrate the border clashes and other stages leading up to the siege.

In the wake of the Treaty of Carlowitz, Poland and the Ottoman state, which over the centuries had shared the stage of history sometimes as neighbours and sometimes as enemies, now shared a similar fate, despite one being on the losing and the other on the winning side. While the Ottoman state went into decline, struggling for survival by diplomacy or war as circumstances required; the kingdom of Poland was attacked by Austria, Prussia and Russia, its powerful neighbours and former allies at the victory of Vienna, which now seized vast tracts of Polish territory in both east and west. Finally in 1795 the country was partitioned by these powers and Poland ceased to be an independent state. 

The Ottoman state refused to recognize the right of the invading powers to partition Poland and in palace protocol the place of the Polish ambassador was preserved. On formal state occasions it was always declared that the Polish ambassador was “delayed on his journey and so unable to attend”. During this period the wars of the past were forgotten as and Polish political refugees who included members of diverse political groups attempting to restore the country’s independence, intellectuals, high ranking officers, soldiers and diplomats received their most steadfast support from the Ottoman state. A Polish batallion made up of political refugees and known as the Sultan’s Cossacks fought side by side with Ottoman soldiers against Russia on several occasions, notably in the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Some of these people are known to have played influential roles in Ottoman reform movements. This period is illustrated by documents, paintings and other diverse objects.

Sakıp Sabancı Museum director Dr. Nazan Ölçer said the following about the exhibition: “Commercial and cultural relations between Poland and Ottoman Turkey, which began in the 15th century and reached their zenith in the 17th and 18th centuries, made major contributions to the arts in both countries, in particular influencing the tastes, dress and way of life of the Polish elite.

Since a relationship going back 600 years could not be represented by material from Poland alone, we were obliged to find a contemporary Ottoman equivalent for every object brought from that country. Official and private correspondence between the kingdom of Poland Kingdom and the Ottoman state, portraits of ambassadors, their retinues, and important Polish and Ottoman figures and their families, as well as personal notes reflecting contemporary events, have taken their place in the exhibition scenario that tracks this eventful history almost step by step.

We wanted church vestments made of Turkish fabrics worn by high ranking Polish clerics, tents and weapons presented as gifts or left behind on the battle field, and diaries kept on battle fronts to give insight into diverse aspects of the past. We have always upheld the principle that history should not be just a series of victories and defeats, so one of our main aims has been that this exhibition should reveal the factors lying behind these and penetrate the power equations and human personalities with all their strengths and weaknesses. The objects, documents and pictures included in this exhibition demonstrate that notes taken by a contemporary observer can sometimes provide more insight than long historical accounts, and that even battle fields can have an aesthetic dimension.”

Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Bogdan Zdrojewski, said of the exhibition: “There are few countries that have established such uninterrupted partnerships during their history. The commemoration of the 600th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries this year is an outstanding opportunity to promote awareness of Poland. During this year more than a hundred cultural events will be held and we plan to present the Turkish public with matchless examples of Polish culture. This exhibition at Sakıp Sabancı Museum is one of the major events on the Polish cultural programme. The exhibition’s title symbolizes and perfectly reflects the character of our relations; it is indeed true that despite the distances between us, both countries have many similarities and share old memories.”

Director of Warsaw National Museum Agnieszka Morawińska commented as follows on the exhibition: “Our exhibition brings together diverse elements that demonstrate the rich history shared by Turkey and Poland. By means of this exhibition we aimed to present art lovers with the most beautiful examples of Poland’s secular heritage and church collections. At the same time our exhibition examines the shared aspects of art history between both countries. Dedicated work by experts from Poland and Turkey has played a major part in the outstanding achievement of this project. I wish to say that owing to their meticulous and dedicated efforts in the course of preparing this exhibition, it has avoided superficiality and biased conclusions.” 

As part of the “Distant Neighbours, Close Memories: 600 Years of Turkish-Polish Relations” exhibition, a two-day programme of lectures will take place on 7-8 March from 14:00 to 18:00. Turkish and Polish academics who are participating in this conference programme will discuss various aspects of art and commerce at different times over the six centuries covered by the exhibition, and examine political and cultural relations between the Ottoman Empire and Poland in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In addition Polish films will be screened throughout the exhibition, accompanied by discussion forums to be attended by the leading directors of contemporary Polish cinema, Krzysztof Zanussi and Dorota Keszierzawska. In addition there will be concerts by musicians from Poland and educational workshops for children. The museum’s Changa restaurant will continue its series of menus on the theme of the current exhibition, which began with the Rembrandt, Monet and Anish Kapoor exhibitions. This time the restaurant is presenting a menu inspired by Poland's traditional foods and cooking techniques.

The main sponsor of the “Distant Neighbours, Close Memories” exhibition being held on the 600 Yeras  of relations between Turkey and Poland is Turgut Pharmaceuticals A.Ş. Supporting sponsor is Gülermak A.Ş., accommodation sponsor is The Grand Tarabya, and educational sponsor is West Istanbul Marina.

The Project is organized as part of the 2014 cultural programme celebrating 600 years of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Poland. 

Sabancı Üniversity Faculty Members, Nilay Noyan Bülbül, Işın Güler, Gözde İnce, Eren İnci, Ali Koşar ve İbrahim Burç Mısırlıoğlu have received the 2014 BAGEP award.

The priority of the Science Academy is to encourage young scientists to conduct sound scientific research and to award selected outstanding work. An award program has been initiated with a view to identify the best young academicians, to award and to support them in their new research efforts. The Science Academy executes this program not with public funds but with contributions collected from society at large. The Awards are provided to scientists who are less than 40 years of age.

Young academicians who win this award get TL 10,000 per year for a two-year period, which they can spend towards their research. The aim is to recognize the brightest and most promising young academicians through a prestigious scholarship program to support their research efforts. 

A cooperation agreement was signed by Sabancı University and Technopark Istanbul.  According to the agreement, the Sabancı University Research and Graduate Policy Directorate will provide Technology Transfer Office (TTO) services, Incubation Facility services and Technology Identification and Assessment services for one year, sharing institutional knowledge and experience.

Sabancı University will design the organizational structure and corporate identity for Technopark Istanbul’s Technology Transfer Office, including planning, policy development, project development, project management, IP portfolio and commercialization trainings for employees.

The Technology Identification and Assessment service includes contacting 50 companies, consulting with Technopark Istanbul to choose the most suitable companies, and identify the technological competence, innovation competence, R&D and project potentials of these prospective companies.  The service also covers establishing supply and demand profiles of companies under 1. Business, 2. Technology, 3. R&D and Technology Development Projects, 4. Access to Funding, and monitoring related processes.

The agreement was signed by President Nihat Berker and Technopark Istanbul General Manager Turgut Şenol at a ceremony also attended by Vice President and Research and Graduate Policy Director Hasan Mandal, Secretary General Haluk Bal, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Dean Yusuf Menceloğlu, Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center Director Volkan Özgüz, Technopark Istanbul Assistant General Manager İsmail Arı, and members of the project team from Technopark Istanbul and Sabancı University. 

The partnership between Sabancı University and Technopark Istanbul aims to bring a fresh perspective to the ecosystem aligned with Turkey’s vision and priorities regarding science, technology and innovation, and create an exemplary model for university-industry partnerships.

Technopark Istanbul 

Located next to the Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, Technopark Istanbul is a science and technology estate established by the Undersecretariat of Defense Industry and the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce to contribute to the technology development capacity in Turkey and create a dynamic innovation environment that is open to entrepreneurship.

Technopark Istanbul is expected to be Turkey’s largest technology estate and one of the largest in Europe with 950,000 m² of indoor area and over 30,000 highly qualified employees, home to more than a thousand domestic and foreign R&D companies.  The first phase of Technopark Istanbul has 2000 m² of incubation facility space in halls with an indoor area of 62,000 m², and the facility will grow to be Turkey’s largest and best-equipped by 2015, expanding to an area of 16,000 m².  Entrepreneurs in Technopark Istanbul working on new technologies may be eligible for risk capital at varying levels.

The focus of Technopark Istanbul will be on Aeronautics and Aerospace, Defense, Advanced Electronics, Advanced Materials, Energy, Industrial Software and Medical Sciences.  Horizontal technology components supporting these industries will also be able to apply to Technopark Istanbul. 

Research and Graduate Policy Directorate

At Sabancı University, processes related to research management have been conducted by the Research and Graduate Policies (RGP) Directorate since 2001.  RGP supports research at Sabancı University to reach its strategic targets and implement internal policies and assists research activities and innovation initiatives that aim to turn scientific and technological developments into social and economic benefits.  Institutional management of research enables academic personnel to focus on the project, secures funding from appropriate public and private sources, ensures compliance with the contractual performance output obligations of research projects in the implementation phase, introduces accountability, and improves the conversion of research and its outputs economic value through partnerships, new ventures, investment in new knowledge, and national or international knowledge transfer opportunities.

Research at Sabancı University is an interdisciplinary endeavor with components in the Faculties of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, and Management; the Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center, Sabancı University Istanbul Policy Center, Sabancı University Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate; and the TÜSİAD Sabancı University Competitiveness Forum, Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum, and the Sabancı University Gender and Women Studies Forum.

The integrated structure of the Research and Graduate Policy Directorate incorporates Research Process Planning and Policy Development, Project Development Office, Technology Transfer Office, Project Management Office, Pre-Incubation and Accelerator Services Facility, Inovent, Inc., and European Enterprise Network Istanbul.

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Sabancı University is pleased to announce our new Psychology undergraduate program. The program will start admitting the first students during the 2014-2015 academic year.

Students majoring in Psychology at Sabancı University will not only gain the basic knowledge and skills in the discipline of Psychology but will also equip themselves with broader perspectives by benefiting from courses in a variety of closely related academic areas. The program is expected to attract individuals who are interested in studying scientifically up-to-date explanations of human mind and behavior in today’s changing world.

The program aims at producing research and teaching in high international standards. The language of instruction will be English. Studying Psychology at Sabancı University will not only help students to master existing knowledge from the angle of multiple approaches (such as cognitive, social, biological) to the field of Psychology but also to acquire researcher skills needed to contribute to the knowledge themselves. Such an emphasis on theory and applied skills will provide the necessary foundation for the graduates of this program who can then flexibly choose applied careers in human resources, marketing, education, counseling centers/hospitals and/or academic careers in research institutes and universities.

Upon successful completion of the program, students are expected to excel in a variety of employment settings; such as the national and international NGO platforms, government jobs, industrial and organizational settings. They could also pursue graduate studies in a great variety of disciplines ranging from Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, and Political Science to Biology and Neuroscience.

Contemporary Psychology focuses on human mental processes and behavior by spanning various levels of mechanisms from neural level communication to hormonal processes; from social and cultural influences to practical implications. Some of the fields that intersect with Psychology are Biology, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Economics, Anthropology and Political science. It is expected that Sabancı University’s strong commitment to the interdisciplinary approach will quickly become a natural habitat for the new Psychology program.

Since Sabancı students start their education with a core curriculum in social and natural sciences through a series of Foundation Development courses, Psychology students will be well-equipped with an interdisciplinary lens earlier when compared to their peers in many other institutions. This type of breadth and diversity will provide Sabancı Psychology students with a competitive edge.

Sabancı University Gender and Women Studies Forum prepares to celebrate March 8th, International Women’s Day, with a series of events.

Celebrations of the Gender and Women Studies Forum will begin on Tuesday, March 4th at 7 pm with a play titled “Evim! Güzel Evim!” (“Home Sweet Home”) in the Cinema Hall.  Written by Ebru Nihan Celkan, the play is performed by Füsun Demirel, Burcu Çelik, Özge Erdem and Fatih Özkan.  The performance will be followed by a discussion with the director and the cast.

The annual quiz show of the Gender and Women Studies Forum will take place on Wednesday, March 5th at 12.30 in the Cafeteria.

The Forum will also host a series of discussions and lectures during the celebrations.  The first lecture, titled “Women from the Past to the Present” will be given by KAMER Foundation member Nebahat Akkoç on Thursday, March 6th in the Cinema Hall at 1 pm.  A panel discussion on “Middle East, Women and Peace” will be held in the Karaköy Minerva Palas on the same day.  The event will begin at 5 pm and speakers will be KAMER member Nebahat Akkoç; Nadje Al-Ali from University of London School of Oriental and African Studies; Hilal Alkan from the Women for Peace Initiative, and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  A bus service will be available from the campus to the event in Karaköy.

March 8th, International Women’s Day, will be marked with a lecture in Karaköy Minerva Palas at 4 pm by  Nadje Al-Ali from University of London School of Oriental and African Studies.  The lecture will be titled “(Counter) Revolutions and Gender: Thinking on Egypt and Iraq.”

Graduate School of Social Sciences Graduate Programs Fall applications 
By Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences  |  20 February 2014

This year’s TEDxSabanciUniversity’s theme is “What is next?”:  In a supremely fast changing world where innovations chase one another, we do not live a day which fails to surprise us. As being part of this incredible speed, we are surprised, excited and inspired at every moment by the breakthroughs taking place in technology, art and science.  

We are longer living in a world where “Sky is the Limit”, and time is the time to go beyond it and discover what is behind the blue. We as TedxSabanciUniversity team are curious to explore what this unstoppable wind of change has to offer, therefore raising this question: “What’s Next?”. You are invited to TEDxSabanciUniversity to find out answers!

This year's speaker list is as follows: Erdem Taylan,Türker Kılıç, Çiğdem Aydın ,Kerem Güneş & Erbil Sivaslıoğlu Üstün Ezer , Necdet Aygoğan,Özgür Bolat , Şirin Bayülgen 

TEDxSabanciUniversity Talks will be held on 27st of February 2014 between 13:00 and 17:00.

During event, we’ll welcome our speakers’ Talks for 18 minutes for each speaker and enjoy Starbucks’s Coffees at coffee breaks. After the event, until 19:00 we’ll  meet with our speakers and our attendees and let them meet and discuss about their talks.

TEDxSabanciUniversity will be at Sabanci Gösteri Merkezi.

Tickers are in sale in internet. You can reach our ticker facebook-twitter accounts.

Sabancı University received the “Most Entrepreneurial and Innovative University in Istanbul” award at the Regional Meeting for Public-University-Industry Cooperation held by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology.

The meeting, attended by President Nihat Berker, was held in the İkitelli Industrial Estate.  Also attending the meeting were Fikri Işık, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology; Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, Governor of Istanbul; Fatih Kocabaş, District Administrator of Bahçeşehir; Erdal Bahçıvan, Chairperson of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, and representatives from universities and industrial companies.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister Işık explained that investment in research and development was critical to achieving Turkey’s objective of 500 billion dollars in exports by 2023.  Calling for partnering academic knowhow with the industry, Işık emphasized the effectiveness of close collaboration between public, university and industry stakeholders, and said, “We will have no concerns for the future if we succeed in bringing people who are willing to do their utmost for their country together within an effective organization.”

Minister Işık said: “Collaborate more with the industry because we will back you up.  If a project submitted to TÜBİTAK by an industrialist has a budget of over 10 billion dollars, we will reject it if a university is not a partner.  The pillar of science must be strong if research is to be sustainable.  Likewise, we will fund 40% of a project rather than 30% if there is a university involved.  We are giving extraordinary support to academic R&D, and will continue to do so.  The R&D funding available this year is TL 1.576 billion.  We wish that the funding is used up effectively this year, so that we may turn around and say that the funding was not enough, that our industry is keen on R&D.  But we couldn’t spend the entire funding last year.  Our universities must pay closer attention to this issue.”

The “Global Competitiveness of Turkey” report issued by Sabancı University - TÜSİAD Competition Forum and SEDEFED was presented to the public.  Speakers at the press event were Federation of Industry Associations (SEDEFED) Chairperson Sefa Targıt and TÜSİAD Chairperson Muharrem Yılmaz. 

Information on the “Global Competitiveness of Turkey” report was presented by School of Management Dean Füsun Ülengin. 

The presentation was followed by a panel discussion on “The role of public and private sectors and professionals in improving competitiveness.”  The moderator of the panel was Dünya daily editor-in-chief Hakan Güldağ, and speakers were Management Consultants Society Chairperson Tülin Seçen, Human Management Society of Turkey Chairperson Yiğit Oğuz Duman, and TÜSİAD Commission for Sector Policies and Relations with Sector Companies President Sedat Şükrü Ünlütürk. 

The Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum has 12 components and 114 indicators.  These indicators present a comparative view of how national dynamics influence the investment climate and competitive environment in 148 countries.  The public sector, entrepreneurs, businesspeople and professionals of each country play a considerable role in improving these 114 indicators and increasing competitiveness.

Master’s in International Relations aims to provide theoretical knowledge on the international relations discipline, and to equip students with skills relevant to the practical applications of the field.  Focused on methodologies, approaches and policy implementation in international relations, the program’s objective is to reconcile theory and practice.

The program’s main areas of focus include:

• Exploring how international policies are designed and implemented in Turkey and around the world;

• Learning about the historical development and current workings of international political structures and institutions;

• Analyzing the structures, roles and functions of international, regional and supranational organizations;

• Conducting studies on understanding foreign policymaking processes, bureaucratic structures, actor-structure relations and interaction with domestic political environment and actors, as well as determining issues in policymaking;

• Examining the roots and development of international relations theories and new discussions.