Horizon 2020 ACCTING will address impacts of Green Deal policies

Since 2019 SU Gender has achieved remarkable success in securing substantial EU funds for research and cooperation, including four EU Horizon 2020 projects that are currently running - GEARING-Roles (2019-2022), seeking to strengthen gender equality mechanisms; WHOLE-COMM (2021-2025) and Re-ROOT (2021-2024), examining migration and integration at different urban scales and layers; and RESISTIRE (RESpondIng to outbreaks through co-creaTIve sustainable inclusive equality stRatEgies) developing a gender+ approach to the unequal impacts of  the COVID 19 pandemic; as well as two Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Postdoctoral Fellowships that began in 2021:  FASS Faculty member and SU Gender Board Member Aslı İkizoğlu’s project "Learning the Language of Belonging: Barriers to Inclusion in Refugee Education" and SU Gender Visiting Researcher Deniz Gündoğan İbrişim’s project “Postimperial Memories: Gender and Trauma in the Anthropocene.” 

Recently, SU Gender has been awarded a fifth EU H2020 project, funded under the Behavioral, social and cultural change for the Green Deal. All together 117 proposals were submitted to this call and only two were awarded. ACCTING (AdvanCing behavioural Change Through an INclusive Green deal), which has been funded with a full score of 15/15, is a 40-month long project with a total budget of 5 million EUR (with a Sabancı University budget of 155.675 EUR). The project  brings together 12 institutions from 11 countries in a strong multi-disciplinary and multi-sector consortium, being coordinated by the European Science Foundation (ESF) and including as project partners Örebro University (Sweden), Yellow Window (Belgium), Knowledge & Innovation (Italy), Zentrum für Soziale Innovation (Austria), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, European Secretariat (Germany), Sabancı University (Turkey), University of Lisbon (Portugal), South East European Research Center (SEERC), Ioan Cuza University of Iasi (Romania) and European Citizen Science Association (Germany). At Sabancı, the project will be led by Ayşe Gül Altınay and Kristen Sarah Biehl.

The main aims of ACCTING are to a) contribute to the success of the European Green Deal programme with a range of research activities on how to avoid and reduce the unequal effects of both climate change and  the policy responses to climate change in different local and national contexts and b) to identify, make visible, and learn from the inspiring changes that are happening on the ground, often with the initiative of marginalised groups, women and the younger generation. Building on previous research initiatives, ACCTING proposes an interdisciplinary conceptual and methodological framework, inspired by strategic policy design-thinking and co-creation. This will be implemented through 1) research activities along eight interdisciplinary thematic research lines, implemented as experimental studies in four to eight countries, each based on a first research cycle of narrative analysis and a second research cycle of multiple methods (e.g. interviews, focus groups, geographical information systems); 2) an extensive mapping and comparative intersectional analysis of inspiring initiatives of local bottom-up sustainable practices facilitating behavioural change relevant for vulnerable or marginalised groups in Europe; 3) multi-actor creativity to translate research insights into operational tools using the method of Open Studios; 4) the concretisation of these insights and creativity into potential solutions, tested as ten pilot actions led by local stakeholders and actors; and 5) wide open-access dissemination of research results, policy recommendations and a future research agenda; and finally, 6) a robust impact evaluation of the project and its findings.

As Principal Investigators under SU Gender, Ayşe Gül Altınay and Kristen Sarah Biehl will be supporting ACCTING in numerous tasks including developing the mapping exercises of local bottom-up initiatives/best practices and supporting their analysis; carrying out experimental studies along three of the thematic research lines; supporting the development of gendered and intersectional perspectives in research activities; developing and implementing the Open Studio methodologies; as well as furthering new research agendas and dissemination of project results. SU Gender and the principal investigators will be bringing to the project disciplinary expertise in anthropology, sociology and gender studies; methodological expertise in qualitative methods, comparative case studies, life histories, interviews, ethnography; along with specific research expertise in working with diverse inequalities and marginalized groups. ACCTING will also build on the ongoing RESISTIRE project, co-coordinated by Ayşe Gül Altınay, Kristen Sarah Biehl and Nazlı Türker, in its focus on inequalities, its goal of “leaving no one behind” in research and social change, and its co-creative methodologies.

ACCTING will also benefit from and contribute to SU Gender’s Transformative Activism Program, co-coordinated by Ayşe Gül Altınay, Özge Ertem and Nazlı Türker, which entails exploring embodied transformative methodologies and pedagogies for social change. The activists and civil society organizations in the Transformative Activism network that work at the intersections of the climate crisis, ecological change and gender will be key resources and allies for the ACCTING project.

In addition, ACCTING will greatly complement the new line of research on ecology and climate change at SU Gender initiated by Kristen Biehl in recent years. In March 2019, Biehl organized two events, an international academic panel event examining the climate crisis through the lens of gender inequality, and an activist event, exploring feminist approaches to ecological change, although both had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. In July 2019, Biehl was awarded the Raoul Wallenberg Institute’s Human Rights Research Grant to comparatively investigate how civil society in Turkey working in the fields of migration and environment incorporate gendered approaches into their work and organizational culture, the results of which are soon to be published.

A project proposal submitted by Burç Mısırlıoğlu, faculty member of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, is entitled to receive support within the framework of the TÜBİTAK 1001 Scientific and Technological Research Support Program.

Burç Mısırlıoğlu’s project is entitled “Negative capacitance stability and limits in structures with ferroelectric/dielectric layers”. Kürşat Şendur and Murat Kaya Yapıcı from Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences and Barış Okatan from İzmir Institute of Technology are involved in the project as researchers. The project aims to research the feasibility and stability of negative capacitance behavior, which is estimated to save power in semiconductor-based transistors via use of multi-layered ferroelectric/dielectric structures.

Regarding the importance of the project, Mısırlıoğlu emphasized the following: Decreasing the power consumption of integrated circuits is an effort that goes simultaneously with the effort to decrease the size of devices. These circuits are usually based on MOSFETs (Metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors). MOSFETs are such small devices that they can now only be observed with electron microscopes. For example, there may be billions of MOSFETs located in an area not larger than 1-2 square centimeters on a processor, which is considered to be one of the foremost examples of nanotechnology. On the other hand, these and similar devices are responsible for approximately 10% of global electricity consumption. There are scenarios in which this share may go as high as 50% in 10 years’ time. Therefore, it is essential that they be able to work on low levels of power. MOSFET devices can be basically considered as electricity switches that go “on” and “off” millions of times in a second, and as one might guess, when they are “on”, an electrical current can go through the device, and when “off”, no electrical current can go through; in other words, there are low resistance and high resistance states. In fact, whether an electrical current goes through or not corresponds to “1” and “0” in informatics language. There have been efforts for years to integrate ferroelectric materials into MOSFETs to implement memory function and the “negative capacitance” effect entered the agenda of the semiconductor industry as a "side effect". Designing MOSFETs with low power consumption through this “effect” has been a popular area of research. In this project, we aim to examine theoretically whether or not negative capacitance in a MOSFET device setting is a stable intrinsic property using some selected ferroelectric-dielectric nano-layered materials, and to understand the physics of this behavior in depth as well as its dependence on material parameters. We also hope to be able to come up with some device proposal at the end of the project.

Sabancı University will develop a cure for retinitis pigmentosa, popularly known as night blindness, which is currently incurable. Cavit Ağca, member of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences said they aimed to find a cure to night blindness, or “retinitis pigmentosa”, which has an incidence  of 1 in every 3 thousand people. Highlighting that patients from Turkey could also join the clinical studies, Ağca added that it would be possible to start a generalized drug therapy after clinical studies were completed.

The project implemented by Cavit Ağca, member of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, entitled "Conversion of cGMP Analogues to Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) Treatment" aims to carry out studies to treat people suffering from the disease with medications.

Other participants of the project, which is carried out as part of a consortium within the framework of the European Union Rare Diseases Project, include Valeria Marigo from UNIMORE University in Italy (the project coordinator), Vittoria Murro from Careggi University Hospital, Nicolaas Schipper from the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), Francois Paquet-Durand from Mireca Medicines in Germany, Heiko von der Leyen from Hannover Clinical Trial Center (HCTC) and Arto Urtti from Eastern Finland University. The first target is to complete preliminary clinical studies, which include formulation development, pharmacokinetic and toxicity tests, and completion of clinical design, in addition to processes such as modelling, clinical expectations, identification of patients and dose regimes. Meanwhile, clinical studies of the project will  be started.

AN IMPORTANT STAGE TO TURN THE PROJECT INTO A PRODUCT

Cavit Ağca, member of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences said that they had already started animal tests within the project, which they carried out to stop or decelerate retinitis pigmentosa, popularly known as night blindness. He continued:

“By moving to animal tests in our clinical trials, we have reached an important stage to turn the project into a product. Our goal is to start phase 1 studies at the end of 3 years and proceed to treatment of patients as a part of clinical phases in the following years. After clinial tests are completed, the medication we develop will be used as a generalized cure for RP.”

PATIENTS FROM TURKEY CAN ALSO JOIN THE CLINICAL STUDIES

Ağca pointed out that, according to their plans, patients from Turkey could be a part of the clinical studies. He continued:

“Retinitis pigmentosa is a hereditary eye disease that causes retina damage  and aggravated visual impairment progressively. The retina has photoreceptor cells that sense the light and create visual signals. In the earlier stages of RP, rod photoreceptors are more seriously impacted than cone photoreceptors. As rods die, people have night blindness and progressive visual loss. In the later stages of RP, people have a growing loss of vision and start to develop tunnel vision. This results in difficulty in reading, driving, walking without assistance or recognizing faces and objects, which are among basic daily tasks.”

INCIDENCE IS 1 IN EVERY 3 THOUSAND PEOPLE

Stating that RP has an incidence of 1 in every 3 thousand people all over the world, Ağca said, “Estimated to have total population of 7.7 billion people in 2020, the world has some 1.9 to 2.5 million people with RP. If we extrapolate this to Turkey, which has a population of approximately 83 million, we can say that 20 thousand to 27 thousand people have RP. Recent studies, including those carried out in our laboratory, to find a cure for this disease about neuroprotective gene therapy, optogenetic, chip technology and photoreceptor transplantation are still at a development stage. Unfortunately, there is no treatment to cure or stop the progression of this disease. Instead, there are devices and methods that make vision more effective, including special glasses and magnifiers that enable people to use their remaining eyesight more efficiently.”

EASY DIAGNOSIS IS ANOTHER PURPOSE

Emphasizing that RP could be caused by a mutation in more than 90 genes, and that it was important to target shared processes so that patients with different mutations could benefit from the same treatment, Ağca continued:

“The aim of this project is to develop a medication and treatment protocol for different forms of RP. In this context, a liposomal formulation has been used so far to develop a treatment that prevents photoreceptor cells from dying. This formulation has already succeeded in 3 different animal mutations causing RP. We have started our studies at Sabancı University for the 4^th mutation. Another purpose of the project is to find a marker for an easy diagnosis and to interpret patients’ response to the treatment by using these markers. The project is currently at a very advanced stage and is very promising.”

Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) has released (FENS) Activity Report 2019-2020.

Please click to read FENS Annual Report 2019-2020

A study by Sabancı Business School indicates that social media is a strong indicator of match expectations and investors’ estimates about stock prices. The study was developed under the leadership of Altuğ Tanaltay, member of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences and with the participation of Nihat Kasap, Dean of Sabancı Business School, Raha Akhavan-Tabatabaei, faculty member at Sabancı Business School, and Amirreza Safari Langroudi, graduate of Sabancı University Business Analytics Graduate Program, who works as Business Analytics Team Leader at Alibaba Travels Co.

Until the pandemic, the football industry was one of the sectors that grew and developed every year. The football industry in Turkey grew by 5 times, had 2,5 million new supporters and reached a market volume of 400 million USD during the 10 years preceding the pandemic. Stocks of the big 4 Turkish clubs, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor, have been publicly traded in Borsa Istanbul since the early 2000s. Naturally, such publicly-listed companies may face risks both from sports and financial markets perspectives. The share price performance of a football club is directly impacted by its success on the pitch. Winning or losing a match results in an increase or decrease of share price. Moreover, as a successful team becomes more popular, its merchandising, advertising and broadcasting revenues are known to grow.

The study carried out by Sabancı University demonstrates how such a large market is impacted by social media. The study is entitled "Can social media estimate share prices of football clubs? Turkish teams and Twitter example", and it indicates that social media is a strong indicator about match expectations and investors’ estimates about stock prices. The study was developed under the leadership of Altuğ Tanaltay, member of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences and with the participation of Nihat Kasap, Dean of Sabancı Business School, Raha Akhavan-Tabatabaei, faculty member at Sabancı Business School, and Amirreza Safari Langroudi, graduate of Sabancı University Business Analytics Graduate Program, who works as Business Analytics Team Leader at Alibaba Travels Co.

Tanaltay said “Football clubs operate in the same way as the other companies that we know, they are active in numerous fields of business, and their overall success is related not only to their sporting performance but also financial performance, one of the most important indicators of which is their stock exchange performance. In this context, our goal is to look for answers to the questions of decision-makers.”

In the study, three different methods were used that were based on match results, match expectations and the importance of a specific match to estimate the share price of sports clubs. Altuğ Tanaltay said the following about the study: “Looking at match expectations, it can be seen that betting odds are important indicators of investors’ sentiment. In our study, we propose to factor in sentiments from Twitter data as another indicator of match expectations and we analyze the links between the match results, social media sentiments and share price changes of the big four Turkish football teams. Our findings show that social media is a strong indicator of match expectations and investors’ estimates of share prices.”

Tanaltay continued, “We used textual data that we obtained from 13 million tweets about the big 4 from 2017 to 2019 to calculate daily sentiment indices about the teams. In addition, we used the results of 800 matches played between 2004 and 2019 and betting odds published on betting sites to estimate the change of share prices of the clubs starting from their IPO date and in which direction such change occurs by using separate mathematical models.”

The video anomaly detection study prepared by Ali Enver Bilecen, graduate student at Sabancı University Electronics Engineering Program, Alp Özalp and M. Sami Yavuz, senior students in the program, with Hüseyin Özkan, member of Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences as the advisor, was found deserving of the Alper Atalay Best Student Paper Award in the field of machine vision and pattern recognition in the 29^th IEEE Conference on Signal Processing and Communications Applications.

Our students’ project entitled “Video Anomaly Detection via Autoregressive Modelling of Covariance Features”, receiving the best paper award in the field of machine vision and pattern recognition, offers deep learning-based innovative methods that can detect the location of extraordinary events in a scene.  

In the project, anomalies observed in a video scene were basically divided into two categories and methods were developed accordingly. The first category involves anomalies caused by objects in unusual forms and appearances. For example, motor vehicles violating pedestrian crossings can be detected via their forms and appearances. The second category involves anomalies that occur as a result of unexpected movements of objects in time. An example of this is an incidence of bagsnatching. 

The method developed in the project to detect anomalies summarizes form and movement information in a scene through covariance features, and models the temporal dynamics of these features via the long short-term memory’s artificial neural networks. Then, form and movement information is merged through probability models to develop a joint decision-making mechanism to detect anomalies. Our success rate of up to 90% on the data sets that are commonly used in the literature shows that our approach offers an effective solution to the problem of video anomaly detection. 

About SİU and the Alper Atalay Best Student Paper Award

SIU (the Conference on Signal Processing and Communications Applications) was held for the first time in 1993. The conference features original projects in theoretical and practical fields of signal processing and communications. It is one of the most comprehensive scientific events in Turkey. 

The Alper Atalay Best Student Paper Award within the framework of the Conference on Signal Processing and Communications Applications is given in memory of Alper Atalay, who graduated from Boğaziçi University Electrical-Electronics Engineering Department in 1993 with an honors degree, and tragically lost his life in car accident on August 16, 1998.

The project implemented by Merve Senem Seven, a post-doctoral researcher at Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, qualifies for support within the framework of the TÜBİTAK 1505 University-Industry Collaboration Support Program.

Merve Senem Seven's project is entitled “Use of Waste Cellulose as Incombustibility Agent in Plastics through Upcycling Method”. The project aims to include waste cellulose in additives and chemicals used in plastic parts in white goods as flame retardants (FR) to present an environment-friendly and original alternative in a high-value added field.

The project will last 2 years, and Ceren Kovancı from Arçelik company takes part in the project as the project officer.

Talking about the importance of the project and giving further details, Seven said, “Through the use of bio-based incombustible materials developed with cellulose additives for the first time in white goods, the approach to FR additives will change completely, and it will be proven that it is possible to develop flame retarding performance which can be developed without causing any destruction to the ecosystem. I believe the project will introduce an innovative and more environmentally friendly approach to replace incombustibility agents, which are hazardous chemicals that are very commonly used in the industry.”

Sabancı University Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC) has released IICEC Activity Report 2019 & 2020

Please click to read IICEC Activity Report 2019 & 2020

Sabancı University Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC) has released the twenty-second issue of IICEC Energy Market Newsletter.

Please click to read IICEC Energy Market Newsletter

Organized within the framework of Sabancı University Summer High School, all the terms of the Summer High School, School of English and Summer School in Applied Nanotechnology were completed. Sabancı University Summer High School was held online and hosted students from 23 provinces and 4 countries.

Held since 2011 to help high school students between 13 and 17 to prepare for a multicultural university setting and develop themselves in their personal areas of interest, the Sabancı University Summer High School took place online this year. This year, the Summer High School was attended by 565 students from 23 Turkish provinces including Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Edirne, Elazığ, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Isparta, İstanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Manisa, Mersin, Muğla, Samsun and Sivas, and 4 countries including Germany, the United States, Spain and Israel.

Sabancı University Online Summer High School

During the Summer High School, which was held in three terms, each of two weeks, students chose among more than 40 university courses on natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, arts, management and professions, and took part in projects and activities to transform their summer holiday into an enjoyable learning experience

Sabancı University Online School of English

Enriched with entertaining activities, Sabancı University Online School of English offered an environment to students between 13 and 16 in which they could develop their English language skills. In addition to intensive English courses, students were able to expand their horizons through extra-curricular personal development seminars and activities to promote the University.

Sabancı University Online Summer School in Applied Nanotechnology

Held to raise awareness about recent developments and applications in nanotechnology and provide some guidance to students about their choice of profession in the future, the Online Summer School in Applied Nanotechnology enabled students interested in science and laboratory research to benefit from the expertise and leadership of Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM).