Academic Projects

SOS4democracy: Social Sciences for democracy: A training program for improving
research on illiberal systems and finding ways to build more robust democracies

The HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-03 project “SOS4demoracy” (Grant Agreement No.101119678) is a training program for improving research on illiberal democracies and examining ways to build more robust democracies, organized and led by the Institute of Criminology at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. It aims to bring together academic and non- academic partners in South-Eastern Europe to deepen intersectoral cooperation in research and increase research capacity, communication, and exchange of ideas regarding illiberal democracies. In line with the working program, the project will pursue three major objectives. First, the project will strengthen cooperation and improve research and innovation ecosystems in academic and non-academic organizations by developing a training-through-research program to equip researchers, journalists, and civil society activists with the conceptual and methodological tools needed to explore the impact of illiberal measures in the participating countries. The training- through-research program will be carried out during secondments involving 31 staff members. Second, to ensure the transfer of know how between the academic and non-academic sectors, the project will develop the following training programs: the academic sector will provide training on advanced research methods and practical skills, the news media organization will provide media training, while non-governmental organizations will provide training on civic monitoring mechanisms, public advocacy, and the use of new technology in civil society organizing. The extensive transfer of know-how will be carried out on secondments, in-person networking events, and webinars. Thirdly, to improve the overall R&I capacity of all participating organizations, the project will organize a training program on research management, knowledge brokering, data stewardship, and knowledge transfer. The project started in September 2023 and will run until September 2027. It comprises 10 partners (6 universities and 4 non-academic institutions, listed below) from 5 countries (Slovenia, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, and Bosnia-Herzegovina). Dr. T. Deniz Erkmen is the lead partner from Özyeğin University and for the project, she will spend time in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Her research involves protests under authoritarian transformation, repression, and autocratic legalism.

See the website for the project or follow it on social media for more information:
www.sos4democracy.eu
X (former Twitter): @SOS4democracy
Facebook: SOS4democracyEU
Project Partners

Participant Universities: Institute of Criminology, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia -
Coordinator); Roma Tre University (Italy), Vrije University (Belgium), University of Sarajevo
(Bosnia and Herzegovina), Boğaziçi University (Turkey), Özyeğin University (Turkey)
Participant civil society associations: Delo (Slovenia), Libera (Italy), İstanpol (Turkey), Zasto Ne
(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Jean Monnet Chair of Migration and Mobility within Europe

On 18 March 2016, the European Council and Turkey reached an agreement that aimed to stop the flow of irregular migration via Turkey to Europe as a response to the European migrant crisis. Since then, migration has become one of the key issue areas where EU-Turkey cooperation continues. While different actors on both sides are discussing about freezing the relations, those who still believe in Turkey being a part of Europe are seeking ways to maintain ties, presenting the cooperation on migration with a possible spill-over effect to other areas. At the same time, there is an unprecedented interest in migration studies in Turkey that has become the host of the largest refugee community in the world. Whereas most research as well as policy focus seem to be directed towards this rather single aspect of migration and mobility within European-Turkish migratory system, i.e., the managing of refugee flows; there is a tendency to overlook migration and mobility within Europe from a larger framework, e.g., intra-EU mobility, Erasmus exchange, new trends of citizenship acquisition, life-style migration, etc. Within this context, the aim of the Jean Monnet Chair of Migration and Mobility within Europe, CHARM is to understand the ways in which European integration has reflected developments in the governance of migration and mobility within the continent. Given the nature of the relationship between the two, presenting a systematic study and public understanding of these developments can act as a stimulus to analytically reflect upon the current and future migration and mobility policies of not only the EU, but Turkey as well. Accordingly, CHARM aims to provide a knowledge, networking and discussion platformfor students, researchers, academics, civil society representatives, policymakers, and other professional and specialized agencies who are working on any area of migration and mobility in relation to European migratory system. Assoc. Prof. Deniz Sert from Özyeğin University Department of International Relations is the chair of the project. Further details regarding the Jean Monnet Chair of Migration and Mobility within Europe can be found here.

HORIZON EU Project: DE-CONSPIRATOR

The DE-CONSPIRATOR project aims to measure the impact of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) strategies, which have been increasingly employed in digital communication tools in recent years, on political, social and societal incidents in 25 EU member states and 3 partner countries, including Turkey, and to develop counter-strategies to combat this. At the end of the project, it is planned to develop definitive solution proposals by understanding more broadly and comparatively the causes, means, and consequences of foreign information manipulation strategies observed in international politics. The project also aims to increase the resilience and awareness of Turkey and EU member states about international disinformation with the ultimate goal of protecting the freedom to receive and consume information. The project DE-CONSPIRATOR (Detecting and Countering Information Suppression from a Transnational Perspective) to be conducted under the coordination of Associate Prof. H. Akın Ünver from the International Relations Department at Özyeğin University has received 3 million Euros of funding from Horizon Europe, the European Union’s 9th Framework Program for Research and Innovation. Funded under the Cluster-2 of the Horizon Europe Program to which Europe's leading universities apply, the project DE-CONSPIRATOR is of paramount importance as it is the second multi-partner project coordinated by a Turkish institution under the “Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Societies” Cluster of Horizon Europe. The DE-CONSPIRATOR project will be coordinated at Özyeğin University and will be jointly conducted by 12 partner organizations, including Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), an Italian international relations think tank, Riga Stradiņš University, University of Groningen, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), University of Amsterdam, Heidelberg University, Lithuanian Center for Advanced Cognitive Studies (AdCogito), Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB), Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM Istanbul) and Georgia’s Reforms Associates (GRASS).

Other projects:

Prof. Dr. Deniz Sert received a research grant from TÜBİTAK 1002 for her project titled “Abroad Perceptions on Turkey’s Covid-19 Aid.”

Assist. Prof. T. Deniz Erkmen and Assist. Prof. Mert Arslanalp received a research grant from Boğaziçi Üniversity Scientific Research Fund for their project titled “The Transformation of the Protest Arena in Turkey (2007-2021)”

Assist. Prof. Ezgi Elçi, Prof. Dr. Evren Balta and Prof. Dr. Deniz Sert received a research grant from Heinrich Böll Stiftung for their project titled “Political Party Representation of Anti-Immigration Attitudes: The Case of Turkey.”

Assoc. Prof. Ebru Ertugal and Assoc. Prof. Faik Gür received a research grant from TÜBİTAK 1002 for their project titled “Sürdürülebilir Kalkınmada Belediyelerin Rolü[The Role of Municipalities in Sustainable Development]”

Assoc. Prof. Akın Ünver received a research grant from TÜBİTAK 1001 for his project titled “Silahlı Örgütlerin Dijital Kamu Diplomasisi: Suriye ve Irak Örnekleri[The Digital Public Diplomacy of Armed Organizations: The Cases of Syria and Iraq]”

Assoc. Prof. Akın Ünver received a research grant from Bilim Akademisi (BAGEP 2021) for his project titled “Küresel Yapay Zeka Temelli Silahlanma Veritabanı Projesi [The Project for a Database of Global Artificial Intelligence Based Armament]”