TASSA participates “Congress for Turkish Scientists Living Abroad” Meeting – July 2013
On July 4-5, 2013, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) held the “2nd Congress for Turkish Scientists Living Abroad” meeting in İstanbul, Turkey. Around 130 scientists, who have marked their fields with notable works and patents, discussed four main issues: “Technology Transfer”, “Education”, “Health” and “Energy”, to determine concrete steps to take in these areas. They shared their experiences with some 70 representatives from Turkey’s public and private sectors and universities to make the country an international center of attraction in the field of science and technology.
TÜBİTAK and the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology hosted the meeting. The Congress started with Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister, Mr. Nihat Ergun’s and Education Minister, Prof. Dr. Nabi Avcı’s opening speeches. Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün, who was present at the opening session of the event, announced Turkey’s determination to provide the necessary conditions for scientific productivity in the country.
During the Congress, four different panel discussions were held and panel chairs were assigned. In each panel, the world-renowned Turkish scientists voiced their observations and made suggestions for mechanisms to enable the transfer of best practices and knowledge to Turkey. In each panel there was a chair and a co-chair and 40 panelists. Most of the participants were working for U.S. and European universities; however there were also some coming from Asia and Australia.
During the first day of the meeting, the panel sessions were concurrently run to discuss interactively on the specific roadmaps and propose the actions plans. Groups first outlined the existing best practices in Turkey and USA, and then focused on the possibility and ways of the transfer of knowledge, and finally discussed joint interests for future collaborations. The mechanisms to contribute the critical mass and knowledge in certain scientific, technology and education areas were among the topics discussed.
The action items from each panel were prepared as summary slides and presented by panel chairs during the plenary meeting on the second day. The Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the closing ceremony of the Congress.
As an outcome the Congress, TUBITAK prepared a final report on the findings of the panels of the meeting and shared it with the attendees. Also, an inventory of 1336 Turkish scientists from 47 countries was created by TUBITAK.
TASSA attended to “2nd Congress for Turkish Scientists Living Abroad” meeting with the following representatives: Prof. Dr. Banu Onaral (Drexel University), Prof. Candan Tamerler (University of Washington), Prof. Dr. Aydoğan Özcan (UCLA), Prof. Dr. Selim Ünlü (Boston University), Prof. Dr. Kenan Gundogdu (NCSU), Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yukleyen (University of Mississippi), Prof. Dr. Seyda Ertekin (MIT), Dr. Nilay Papila (Ozyegin University), Dr. Hayat Onyuksel (UIC), Dr.Murat Gunel (Yale) and Dr. Turgut Gur (Stanford).
We believe that TASSA members can take critical roles and contribute to the roadmap of science in Turkey by attending such meetings and will create a success story for other science diasporas.
