Prof. Oya Güneri
Oya Güneri is the Vice-Chancellor of Education and Teaching at TED University. She is also a faculty member in the Educational Sciences Department. Previously, she was a professor in the Department of Educational Sciences at Middle East Technical University (METU), where she was also a faculty between 1990-2020, a Director at the METU Learning and Student Development Office (2009-2015), and director of the Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching (2017-2020). Dr Güneri also served as the Vice-Chancellor for Education and Teaching between the 2015-2016 academic year at Abdullah Gül University and the 2016-2017 academic year at Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus. Dr Güneri received her PhD from METU Educational Sciences Department, Guidance and Psychological Counselling Program. During her doctoral studies, she was a visiting researcher at the University of Minnesota with a PhD grant from the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA) between 1997-1998. She completed her post-doctoral study at Harvard University, within the Fogarty International-Mental Health and Developmental Disorders Researcher Training Program. Her research areas of interest include counselling with university students, teaching and learning in higher education, faculty professional development, college student development, career counselling, and mindfulness.
Prof. Kezban Çelik
Kezban Çelik is a professor at the Department of Sociology at TED University, Ankara, Turkey. She received her PhD from the Department of Sociology at Middle East Technical University. Her research interests focus on analysis of gender inequalities, measuring socio-economic status and social mobility, migration (internal, return, irregular migration, migrant labour, migrant young girls and women) in Turkey focusing on age and youth, social networks, young women’s employment in informal sector and various issues like poverty and social exclusion indicators, citizenship and civil society initiatives related to sustainable development.
Assoc Prof. İlknur Bayram
İlknur Bayram graduated from Hacettepe University with a BA degree in Translation and Interpretation and received MA and PhD degrees from Ankara University in the field of Curriculum and Instruction. She currently works at Turkish National Police Academy, Department of Foreign Languages and Turkish Education. Along with general English and English for Academic and Specific Purposes courses, she has also taught courses such as Educational Philosophy, Materials Design, Coursebook Analysis, and Vocational English at the Faculty of Education. Her main research interests are teacher professional development, lesson study, curriculum evaluation, and education for sustainable development. She has recently published two articles entitled “Pre-service English language teachers’ conceptions of sustainable development: A case from Turkish higher education context” and “English language teacher trainers’ capacity building in sustainable development goals through MOOCs” in International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Dr. R. Aslıhan Aksoy Sheridan
Aksoy-Sheridan has taught courses on world literature, children's literature, critical thinking and writing, cultural studies, and world history since February 2016 at TED University. She graduated from Boğaziçi University’s Dept. of Western Languages and Literatures with high honours in 2000, receiving her first M.A. from the same department in 2003 with her thesis on the Irish comic tradition. During her undergraduate and graduate education, she attended the Dept. of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, as an exchange student, and served as the founding research assistant at the Boğaziçi University’s Mithat Alam Film Center (2000–2003). Working as translator and simultaneous interpreter in various EU-sponsored civil society initiatives (2004–2006), she received her second M.A. in Turkish Literature with her thesis on Ahmet Mithat Efendi (2009), and her Ph.D. in History with her dissertation on public visions of imperial past and future in the early modern Ottoman cultural imagination (2016), both from Bilkent University. She received a residential junior fellowship (2012–2013) from Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (RCAC), where she conducted archival research on the Ottoman miscellaneous manuscripts held in Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, Istanbul. Before TEDU, she taught modern Turkish history and language at Bilkent University (2015–2017), and Ottoman Turkish at the Tarih Vakfı’s (History Foundation) Ankara branch (2014–2017). She received training in Ottoman epigraphy from Koç and Chicago Universities (2014), and in different strands of digital humanities at the University of Oxford (participating in DHOxSS 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022).
Dr. Başak Uçar
Başak Uçar graduated from Middle East Technical University (METU) with a B.Arch degree in Architecture in 2003. She received her M.Arch degree from the same department with the thesis study entitled “An Assessment of the Architectural Representation Process within the Computational Design Environment”. She worked as a research assistant in the METU, Department of Architecture, from 2006 to 2011. She worked as a visiting researcher at TU Delft, Department of Architecture (Netherlands) for two semesters to conduct the research project entitled “Ambient Intelligence in Architecture Experiencing Responsive Systems” (supported by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, TÜBİTAK). She received her PhD degree in 2011 from METU, Department of Architecture with the thesis study entitled “An Inquiry into the Ontology of Responsiveness: Assessing Embodiment and Human-Machine Interaction in Responsive Environments”. Working as an assistant professor at TED University since 2012, she continues her research on architectural design, architectural communication and media studies, and computational design.
Dr. Kıymet Duygu Erdaş
Kıymet Duygu Erdaş received her undergraduate degree from Bilkent University and completed her master’s degree in Management, Organisation and Organisational Behaviour at Hacettepe University. She received her PhD degree with Management and Organisation specialisation from Sabancı University. Before joining TED University, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Sabancı University and lectured as a part-time instructor at TOBB University of Economics and Technology. Her research interests include cross-cultural organisational behaviour, workplace incivility and honour culture.
Dr. Özlem Erden-Başaran
Dr Erden-Basaran completed her PhD in Curriculum Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, the USA, with the Fulbright Foreign Student Program's sponsorship. She completed her postdoctoral research at the Centre for Research into the Education of Marginalised Children and Young Adults in the Faculty of Education, Humanities, and Social Sciences at St Mary's University, London. Dr Erden-Basaran also holds an MSc degree in Curriculum and Instruction at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, and a BSc degree in Science Teaching at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. During her graduate work, she also received a Postgraduate Exchange Certificate in Education Studies at Middlesex University, London. She attended training on Sexuality, Culture, and Society at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and a summer school on Forced Migration at Oxford University, the UK. As a scholar who has extensive international work experience, she worked as an academic specialist and inquiry project coordinator of the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching, the Afghan Junior Faculty Development Program, and the Fulbright Russian International Education Administrators at the Centre for International Education, Development and Research at Indiana University Bloomington. She also served as a Senior Executive Assistant at the Turkish Fulbright Commission. Besides these experiences, she worked as a project and field coordinator of several projects on immigrant and refugee communities from the Middle Eastern and North African countries in the UK, the Netherlands, and Turkey. Dr Erden-Basaran is currently working as an assistant professor at TED University, Ankara.
Assoc. Prof. Can Baran Aktaş
Dr. Aktaş completed his undergraduate and graduate studies within the Department of Civil Engineering at Middle East Technical University. He continued his doctoral studies at University of Pittsburgh where he graduated from in 2011. Following his graduation, he joined University of New Haven as an Assistant Professor within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and coordinated the Sustainability Studies program during his time there. In 2018, he was promoted to Associate Professor and granted tenure at the University. Soon after he returned to Turkey and joined TED University. Dr. Aktaş’s expertise lies in sustainable engineering design. He has authored many publications on resilient and critical infrastructure design, integrated renewable energy systems, life cycle assessments, and Design for Environment. You can find a partial list of related publications from his Google Scholar page. He has taught courses on sustainability, engineering design, and construction management as well as engineering statistics, building materials, and engineering ethics. In addition to his full-time appointment at TED University, he continues to hold an adjunct faculty position at University of New Haven in the US. Dr. Aktaş has served on the study committee for CT Academy of Science and Engineering, on technical evaluation committees of international conferences in his field and continues to serve as a reviewer for several prominent journals related to his field of expertise. One of the articles he published was awarded the "Most Cited Paper Award 2019" by Resources, Conservation and Recycling, a prestigious journal in the field.
Dr. Esra Kurul (PI)
Dr Kurul is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Organisational Studies. She jointly leads the University's Sustainable & Resilient Futures Network, and leads the Smart Construction & Impact Assessment Group. Between 2018-2020, she was a Brookes Teaching Fellow, leading a teaching & learning project on fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. Dr Kurul has a PhD in Environmental Studies from the Bartlett, UCL (2003), UK, a MA in Conservation Studies (Buildings) from the University of York (1997), UK; a BArch'93, METU, Turkey, and a PgCert in Teaching in Higher Education from Oxford Brookes University (2006), UK. Dr Kurul’s research is interdisciplinary and wherever appropriate it is undertaken in collaboration with the industry. It currently focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration to achieve sustainability in the built environment, and adaptation of businesses and the Built Environment to Climate Crisis. Its natural outcomes are significant peer-reviewed external research funding, a substantial body of high-quality peer reviewed publications, an international reputation, and developing recognition for impact. Her success rate as a PI stands at over 75% in a very tough funding environment where the UK Research Innovation’s (UKRI) award rate stands at 21%. Dr Kurul has a long-standing interest in virtual and blended learning as a result of the key role she played in the development of one of the first blended-learning MSc programmes at OBU, which launched in 2007. Since then, Dr Kurul has been devising and refining novel ways of fostering student engagement. She was a PI and a co-I on two recent EU-funded projects that focussed on integrating sustainability matters into curricula.
Prof. Rajat Gupta (Co-I)
Prof Gupta is Professor of Sustainable Architecture and Climate Change. He is the Chair of the Sustainable & Resilient Futures Network, the Director of Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development and the Low Carbon Building Group. His research interests lie in evaluating building performance from a socio-technical perspective, smart energy systems, local area energy mapping, scaling up energy retrofits, indoor air quality and overheating in care settings and homes. As Principal Investigator (PI), he has won over £13 million in research grants from UK Research Councils (EPSRC, ESRC, NERC), EU, Innovate UK, United Nations and industry. Examples include: EVALOC- Evaluating the impacts of low carbon communities using action research. A £1.14 m project funded by the ESRC/EPSRC (RES-628-25-0012). ERIC- Smart storage and local sharing of solar electricity in a cluster of dwellings in Oxford. A £812k project funded by Innovate UK. Prof Gupta is currently the PI of the £1.3 million EPSRC-DST Newton Fund sponsored RESIDE project on residential building energy demand reduction in India (EP/R008434/1, 2017-2022) that was ranked no. 1 amongst 22 proposals. He was the UK lead of the successfully-completed RAEng Newton Fund project on customising building performance evaluation for India (Learn-BPE, £50k, 2017-2019) which led to the development and application of a customised BPE protocol (I-BPE) for 10 green buildings in India. Prof Gupta was also leader of the United Nations funded project on mainstreaming sustainable social housing in India (MaS-SHIP, 2017-2019, £140k) that produced a sustainability assessment toolkit for housing developers and policy briefings for the Government.
Dr. Sabiha Sunar
Dr Sabiha Sunar is currently leading TEDMEM, the think tank of Turkish Education Association in Turkey. She has worked for TEDMEM for about eight years, with an aim to contribute to the vision of TEDMEM; being a reliable and referenced centre for education policies in Turkey and serving for an education system that provides equal learning opportunities to all students. She also works as a part-time instructor at TED University, teaching the undergraduate course “Turkish Education System and School Management” for the fall semester. Sabiha Sunar received her undergraduate degree in 2007 in the department of chemistry education and her PhD degree in 2013 in the field of secondary science education from Middle East Technical University- Faculty of Education. She worked as a research assistant during her doctorate in the same department and conducted research studies as a visiting researcher at the University of York for one year as part of her dissertation studies. Her PhD dissertation mainly focuses on context-based teaching of chemistry. She participated in various prestigious international and national conferences and published articles related to her expertise. Serving as the TEDMEM Coordinator, Sunar closely follows national and international education policies and prepares policy analysis, reviews and reports on the current issues of the education system and international large-scale assessments in education.
Seçil Cengizoğlu
Seçil Cengizoğlu is an educational specialist at TEDMEM which is an independent think tank organisation affiliated to the Turkish Education Association. She received her B.S and M.S degree in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education from Middle East Technical University (METU). She is currently continuing her PhD in the same department. Prior to her work with TEDMEM, she served as a research assistant at METU approximately for ten years. Her research interests include young children's perceptions on human-environment interrelationship and exploring the potential of early childhood education for a sustainable future. More specifically, her works lie heavily on how principles and indicators of SDGs can be addressed and assessed in preschool settings. Within this consideration, she has experiences to develop educational programs for young children in respect to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. Putting SDG 4 in the centre, she specifically took part in research studies to develop children’s and mothers’ capacity to explore Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12) and even Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6). She has national and international publications, conference papers, awards and participated in research projects supported by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) related to increasing awareness and knowledge about education for sustainability.
Dr. Özlem Parlar Ürker
Özlem Parlar Ürker is one of the founding members and the vice chairman of NATURA. She completed her master's degree in Ankara University, Department of Agricultural Economics in 2017. She contributed to the establishment of NATURA in Ankara, after working professionally in various non-governmental organisations in the field of environment and nature protection since 2009. She has worked on nature conservation, natural agriculture, sustainability, rural development and forest ecology in various national and international projects. She is currently focused on her work with various organisations on young nature conservationist training programs. She is also a permaculture designer and nature educator.