Sabri Sayarı, emeritus faculty member of Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), has been elected as the President of the Turkish Political Science Association. Berk Esen, member of FASS, also sits on the newly established board of the association chaired by Sabri Sayarı.

Sabri Sayarı, emeritus faculty member of Sabancı University FASS, has been elected as the President of the Turkish Political Science Association, which was established to carry out activities for the development of the field political science in Turkey, make it better known in the country, and establish cooperation and flow of information among the academics working in the field of political science. Taking over the presidency of the association from Professor Füsun Türkmen, Chair of the International Relations Department of Galatasaray University, Sabri Sayarı said he would work to promote the association, and make it more visible. Pointing out that as the association, they would continue to attend international conferences, Sayarı added that they would also continue to organize seminars, conferences and meetings in the country.

Known for his research and publications on Turkish politics, Turkish foreign policy and comparative politics, Sabri Sayarı obtained his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University in the US. From 1971 to 1973, he worked as a faculty member at Rutgers University. Between 1974 and 1984, he served as a member of Boğaziçi University’s Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences. From 1994 to 2005, he was the Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington, DC. During that period, he also served as the Chair of the Advanced Turkish Area Studies Seminar at the U.S State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. He has been a visiting professor at Columbia University, George Washington University, and University of California (Irvine) in the US, and Aarhus University in Denmark.

An article entitled “Insider Giving” by Süreyya Burcu Avcı, part-time faculty member at Sabancı Business School, has been published in the Duke Law Journal of the Duke School of Law in the US.

Written by Süreyya Burcu Avcı, Prof. Dr. Cindy Schipani and Prof. Dr. Nejat Seyhun of University of Michigan Ross School of Business, Prof. Dr. Andrew Verstein of UCLA School of Law, the article covers big corporate shareholders who donate their stocks to charities and obtain sizeable profits thanks to tax deductions. The study indicates that stock prices increased by 6 per cent in one year before the donation date, and decreased by four per cent one year later. Showing that donations are made when the stock price is at the top, the study highlights that this situation is either an abnormal coincidence or attributable to “insider giving”.

The article was shown by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a reference for its proposed law amendment.

You can reach the article by clicking here.

Prince Abdülmecid Efendi, who had a lasting effect on the Ottoman art world, is on view at SSM with a selection of artworks, most of which are together on view for the first time.

Under the sponsorship of Sabancı Holding, Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum hosts the “Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi” exhibition on the life and art of Abdülmecid Efendi, who had a lasting effect on Turkish art history. Apart from his patronage to many artists and institutions, he was an accomplished painter who was also interested in calligraphy, music and literature. The exhibition is open to all art lovers between 21 December 2021 – 1 May 2022.

“Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi” comprises artworks from SSM’s collection, 14 official institution collections, 17 family collections, private museum and gallery collections, together with the works that arrived from France, where the Caliph spent his last 20 years, with the support and cooperation of the Institut Français Turkey and the French Consulate in Istanbul. The exhibition collection consists of 60 paintings and more than 300 documents, along with a self-portrait, dated 1926, from the Musée Massena Collection in Nice and 2 original framed paintings taken from the Pierre Loti Museum House in Rochefort and gifted to Loti by Abdülmecid Efendi.

The exhibition offers a comprehensive perspective on Abdülmecid Efendi's art. The “Abdülmecid Efendi Beyond Vision” section presents the SSM collection’s six Abdülmecid Efendi paintings, which were, for the first time ever, subject to a scientific research study. The study carried out in collaboration with Sabancı University, Koç University and Istanbul University Faculty of Forestry, illuminates Abdülmecid Efendi's painting technique, the restoration in his works; the structure, colour, paint layers and texture of the materials he used, and his artistic production conditions.

“We believe in the inclusive and unifying power of art. We believe in the hope it spreads.”

On his opening speech for the exhibition, Sabancı Holding CEO Cenk Alper said, “As the Sabancı Group, we remain a pioneer and set a model not only in economic terms; but also in culture, art and education, the essential areas for social development. In all circumstances, we believe in the inclusive, unifying and inspiring power of art. We believe in the hope it spreads. And this is exactly why, art remains our most significant, established value. Our group’s desire to convey our country’s values to a broader audience is maintained today with yet another master, with our support to the Abdülmecid Efendi exhibition. I would like to thank Sakıp Sabancı Museum for making this encounter a reality, and congratulate our museum, which will turn 20 in 2022, for enhancing our world with art and contributing to our country’s art scene.”

“We commemorate Abdülmecid Efendi with a selection of artworks, most of which will be seen for the first time”

Nazan Ölçer, The Director of Sabancı Museum, said; “We are happy that the Sakıp Sabancı Museum will host such an extraordinary artist, a versatile Prince. Abdülmecid Efendi, Sultan Abdülaziz’s first son born during his reign, experienced the tragic death of his father at a very early age and could never disremember it. He spent about fifty years of his life as a prince, four years as a crown prince, about sixteen months as a caliph, and the last twenty years in exile. In his seventy-six years of life, he witnessed three regimes: absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy and the republic, and endured two world wars. Abdülmecid Efendi, the last heir and the last caliph of the Ottoman Empire, and the first and only caliph elected by the Turkish Grand National Assembly, personally witnessed the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Undoubtedly, he is one of the those most affected by the military and political affairs; yet still, we see that he was always a benevolent father and grandfather. Along with his painter identity, he was interested in music and calligraphy. With his support to the intellectuals and artists, with whom he maintained close friendships; he was extraordinary for the Ottoman dynasty ever since his princedom. Conscious of the spirit of his time and the tensions between East-West and tradition-modernity, he lived his life as an Ottoman intellectual who was open to the West while staying true to his religion and tradition. Abdülmecid Efendi, who became a modern prince, combining East and West witin his person; is commemorated in our exhibition with a selection of artworks, most of which will be seen for the first time.

In our exhibition, we will look at Prince’s relationship with literature and music, as well as his close friendships with the intellectuals and artists of the period, along with his painting. For the first time, we will see his three Fog paintings side by side, inspired by Tevfik Fikret's poem. We will explore Abdülmecid Efendi with more than 300 documents, including the landscape paintings he gifted to his close friend Pierre Loti; his letters, family photos, some of which remained unknown, and many menus, including the invitation card given by his close friend Abdülhak Hamit for the premiere of his play, Finten. Throughout the exhibition, our visitors will be accompanied by musical compositions by his father, Sultan Abdülaziz, who also established the first comprehensive painting collection of the palace. We invite all art lovers to our museum to get to know the extraordinary Prince better.”

Sabancı University staff and students can visit the exhibition “Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi” free of charge at the SSM’s Gallery on -2 between 10:00 – 18:00 except for Mondays and 10:00 – 20:00 on Saturdays; until Sunday, 1 May 2022.

Organized by Sabancı University Gender and Women’s Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender), Curious Steps: Gender and Memory Walks were held after a long pandemic break in Beyoğlu on December 15, 2021.  

Şeyda Çetin, curator of Meşher Gallery, who participated in the walk realized within the framework of the Beyoğlu Senin (Beyoğlu is Yours) project, which hosts the Beyoğlu walks organized by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality around different themes and routes, shared striking examples of artist stories that can be added to Curious Steps Beyoğlu route. In addition, she provided information about the exhibition entitled "I-You-They: A Century of Artist Women" which will be on display in the Gallery until the end of March.  

Since 2014, SU Gender has organized gender and memory walks in Beyoğlu, Kadıköy and Balat within the framework of the Curious Steps Program. Prepared with the contributions of voluntary storytellers, routes are set based on the following questions: 

Where are women in the past and present of this city, this district, this venue? Where are LGBTI+ individuals? How does gender shape the city’s story and the social memory about it? How do silences in social memory reflect to spaces, streets and parks of the city? Where can we find traces of women, LGBTI+ individuals and gender in memory layers of the city? How can we narrate and share what we find? How do searching, designing, sharing these stories and walking the city with these stories open doors to us and transform our relation with the city and its venues?

The Curious Steps Program started to make new steps in the digital environment and built a digital story map, Encountering Steps, with immigrant solidarity stories enriched by visuals led by video and photography artist, Selen Çatalyürekli. 

To view videos of the Curious Steps Beyoğlu Walk on December 15 and see other events of the Beyoğlu Senin project, you can visit the project’s beyoglusenin.ist website and social media accounts.  

Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM) has signed an agreement with the Abdi İbrahim company to develop biodegradable polymers, which are more sustainable and circular types of packaging, for use in primary packaging of consumer health products.

Within the framework of the agreement, a project was started at SUNUM. The project involves developing biodegradable packaging, manufacturing prototypes and checking the prototypes against all the regulatory and technical success criteria applicable to consumer health products. The project is planned to be completed in 27 months including the tests. By the end of the project, biodegradable packaging will have been used in consumer health products for the first time in Turkey.

Fazilet Vardar Sukan, Director of Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM), highlighted the importance of the project as follows: “After Turkey signed the Paris Agreement, works started to move to greener manufacturing practices with an inclusive approach for all the sectors by using sustainable manufacturing technologies towards the zero-carbon target. In this context, as Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center, we find it important to design our industry collaborations in line with the sustainability strategies of companies and the country. Through our collaborations with the industry players, we aim to ensure that the prototypes that are manufactured make a difference in the market and lead the green transition model.”

M. Oğuzcan Bülbül, Abdi İbrahim’s Public Relations and Corporate Communications Director, said the following about the project agreement: “Our most important common goal in the context of environment is to become a carbon-neutral company by 2030, and we are making determined and clear steps to do so. We want to be part of the green transition. Both in the pharmaceuticals sector and in other sectors, we can see that the new axis has shifted to low-carbon economy as far as consumer choice and global competition are concerned. Within the framework of the European Green Deal and the associated Circular Economy Action Plan, we expect that new and radical regulations will be introduced in the future to make plastic packaging more sustainable and further extend consumption of biodegradable packaging”.

Sabancı University Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC) is organizing a conference entitled “Electric Vehicles Outlook - Global & Turkey”.

Dr. Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) will deliver the opening speech of the conference, which will start at 10:30 on Tuesday, December 28. Guest speakers of the conference are Gürcan Karakaş, CEO of TOGG, and Haydar Yenigün, Chairman of the Automotive Manufacturers Association (OSD). In the conference, Bora Şekip Güray, Director of IICEC, will make the launch presentation of the IICEC “Turkey Electric Vehicles Outlook 2021” report.

The conference will be followed by a distinguished panel. Moderated by Mehmet Erdem Yaşar, Associate Director, Energy Eurasia MEA, SIG of EBRD Turkey, the panel will host Sinan Ak, CEO of Zorlu Enerji, Ahmet Erdem, Country Chairman of Shell Turkey, Özge Özden, General Secretary, Association of Electricity Distribution System Operators (ELDER), Özgür Özel, General Manager of SIRO, and Murat Pınar, Chairman of EUROGIA and of Eşarj, as speakers.

Due to the pandemic conditions, only the speakers and the panelists will onstage attend the conference physically, and the conference will be broadcast live between 10:30 and 12:30.

To watch the live broadcast, please click to register.

With a fellowship from Loughborough University, Sabancı University Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design Program Faculty Member Selçuk Artut will be staying two-weeks in the United Kingdom for accomplishing several tasks. With the Ambiguous Standards Institute of which he is a member, he will carry the exhibition that they presented at the Chicago Art Institute this year to Loughborough, and then prepare various seminars and make presentations with the same team.

Selçuk Artut has been a part of the ASI since 2018. ASI has collaborated with him in the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial (2018), Jerusalem Design Week (2019) and An Institute Within An Institute exhibition held in The Arts Institute of Chicago (2021). His work in the Institute was focused on but not limited to appropriate technology, interface design, user experience and interaction, and coding for design.

Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender) will hold Dicle Koğacıoğlu Article Awards Conference, which will be organized for the 12^th time this year to the memory of Dicle Koğacıoğlu, a sociologist, from 13.00 to 17.00 on Saturday, December 25. The conference will be online.

The conference is organized to support gender-focused research and encourage young researchers. Applicants to the article awards will present their studies and the 2021 award winners will be announced during the award ceremony at the end of the conference.

Please click to register for the conference, which will be held on Zoom.  

Date: Saturday, December 25, 2021

Time: 13.00 – 17.00

Registration link: www.bit.ly/DK_21_Konferans

Dicle Koğacıoğlu Article Awards Conference and Award Ceremony Program

13.00-14.15 OPENING TALKS

14.15-14.30 BREAK

14.30-15.30 PANEL I

Facilitator: Biray Anıl Birer
Dilan Alataş, “Autism Mothers: Care Labor and Critical Imagination of Parenting”
Şehide Zehra Keleş Yüksel, “Hosting the Public: Home Visits for Social Study Purposes and Public Imaginations of Housewives”

15.30 - 15.45 BREAK

15.45-16.45 PANEL II

Facilitator: Şeyma Gümüş
Gözde Cöbek, “When Harry meets Sally (on an online application): Heterosexual Online Flirting World in Turkey”
Göksu Köktürk, “A Look through Women Consumers on the Relation of Femvertising with Gender Equality in the Context of Post Feminism and Meta Feminism”

16.45-17.00 AWARD CEREMONY

Foundation universities have been included in the Research Universities category of the Council of Higher Education’s (YÖK) Research-Oriented Mission Differentiation Program. Sabancı University became one of the three foundation universities included in the program.

Foundation universities have been included in the Research Universities category of the Council of Higher Education’s (YÖK) Research-Oriented Mission Differentiation Program. Sabancı University became one of the three foundation universities included in the program.

The Research Universities meeting was held in Ankara, in which new decisions in the framework of the “Research-Oriented Mission Differentiation Program” of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) were announced.  Attended by Mustafa Varank, the Minister of Industry and Technology, Erol Özvar, President of YÖK, Hasan Mandal, President of TÜBİTAK, and Yusuf Leblebici, President of Sabancı University, the meeting also hosted presidents of related institutions, members of YÖK, and presidents and vice-presidents of research universities.

Erol Özvar pointed out that YÖK made changes to the Research-Oriented Mission Differentiation Program and said the following: “Not assessed previously in the research universities category, foundation universities will, from now on, be monitored closely for their performance like state universities. According to the results of our assessment on applicants, 3 foundation universities have been granted the research university title”. Following this, Özvar announced that Sabancı University was also included in the research universities category. Yusuf Leblebiciwas presented the program certificate by Mustafa Varank and Erol Özvar.

Yusuf Leblebici: Since our establishment, we have determined research as our focus

Highlighting that Sabancı University has adopted research as one of its main focuses since its establishment, Yusuf Leblebici said the following: "It is an honor for us that our university has been granted the Research University status by YÖK. Our goal for the years to come is to become one of the leading research universities in the world. To reach our goal, we make comprehensive investments to further enrich our research infrastructure, and continue to work in close collaboration with the business world and industry. We make a difference with our high-quality and unique education programs and our ever-growing effectiveness and visibility in the world of science. To accelerate our research activities, we keep enriching our academic staff, educated at the best universities in the world. In the last two years, we recruited 41 full time faculty members, of whom 38 obtained their PhD degrees from universities abroad. 22 of them are highly valuable academics who joined us directly from abroad, and 7 others are our own alumni who completed their undergraduate studies at Sabancı University before going abroad for a doctoral degree. With our young and dynamic academic staff, we will continue to solve the real problems of industry and the business world, and carry out our research activities to contribute to society with a growing motivation".

Ogün Adebali, Lütfi Taner Tunç, and Murat Kaya Yapıcı, members of Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) and Yiğit Atılgan, member of Sabancı Business School were found deserving of the TÜBA-GEBİP (Outstanding Young Scientists) Awards 2021. The TÜBA-GEBİP Awards are presented by TÜBA (Turkish Academy of Sciences) every year to reward outstanding achievements of young scientists.

Murat Kaya Yapıcı, Ogün Adebali, Yiğit Atılgan, Lütfi Taner Tunç

The TÜBA-GEBİP Awards have been presented since 2001 to reward and encourage young scientists working in the field of natural sciences, engineering, health sciences and social sciences to continue their scientific studies in Turkey, establish their own working groups, and produce projects and publications of international quality in Turkey. Within the scope of the program, besides the financial support of 30 thousand Liras provided each year to the award winners for 3 years, an additional support of 10 thousand Liras each year is provided to doctoral students at the dissertation stage, and consultancy is provided by the academy members.