The Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards and Commemoration Ceremony was held at the Sabancı Center on April 10, 2025. As part of the ceremony, the late Sakıp Sabancı, Honorary Chair of Sabancı University, was commemorated on the 21st anniversary of his passing. This year’s theme of the awards program was “Re-aligning Values in a Transforming World Order: What needs preserving, reevaluating, and redefining?”. The Special Jury Prize went to Political Science Professor Wendy Brown.
Sabancı University Honorary Chair Sakıp Sabancı was commemorated with a ceremony on the 21st anniversary of his passing. The ceremony also included the announcement of the winners of the 2025 article awards as part of the Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards, which are implemented according to Sakıp Sabancı’s will. The Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards and Commemoration Ceremony, held at the Sabancı Center on April 10, 2025, was hosted by Sabancı University Founding Chair of the Board of Trustees Güler Sabancı. The ceremony was attended by Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, Sabancı University President Prof. Dr. Yusuf Leblebici, representatives of foreign missions, representatives from academia, prominent people from the worlds of business, arts, media, and society, the Sabancı Family, and many guests.
In her speech at the ceremony, Güler Sabancı, Founding Chair of the Sabancı University Board of Trustees, emphasized that Sakıp Sabancı, who contributed greatly to the Sabancı Group’s current status with his vision, valuable ideas, and leadership, attaches great importance to education, science, and social development. Güler Sabancı said the following: “Sakıp Sabancı believed that Turkey’s development would be achieved with the contribution of quality education, free-thinking, and well-educated individuals. He saw education not only as the key to individual success but also as the most powerful tool that enables societies to reach a bright future. As someone devoted to his country and placing great importance on unity and solidarity, he made great efforts to ensure that Turkey progresses towards its goal of becoming a member of contemporary civilizations as it deserves. Nothing could stop him from working and producing. His ideas and values have always illuminated our path.”
“We continue our work with all our strength in the light of science”
Stating that they commemorate Sakıp Sabancı by supporting scientific research that benefits society according to his will, Güler Sabancı said, “Among our common dreams during the establishment of Sabancı University was to create a respected institution that not only conveys knowledge but also produces, questions, inquires, and offers solutions to issues. Today, we are proud that our common dreams have come true over the past 25 years, and we believe that we can do much better. Sabancı University carries out studies that emphasize its pioneering position with transformative effects on science and society. We continue our work with all our strength in the light of science with our philosophy of “creating and developing together”. We continue to be a university that is competitive and participatory, and contributes to society on a global scale with our interdisciplinary education approach. Since the day it was founded, Sabancı University continues its progress as a young and reputable institution with more than 9 thousand scientific publications published by esteemed academics and researchers, numerous projects carried out at national and international levels in academy-industry collaborations, and nearly 19 thousand undergraduate alumni.”
Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards encourage original and innovative studies
Stating that a separate fund was established according to the will of the late Sakıp Sabancı for the Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards, the first and only international award program in the field of social sciences in Turkey, Güler Sabancı said, “This fund supports young academics and research in the field of social sciences and encourages original and innovative studies. Since the beginning of the award program, more than 600 articles from 40 countries have been carefully examined by our distinguished jury chair and members. Young researchers and world-renowned scientists in many different fields, from economics to sociology, from Turkish and Islamic art to Turkish history, have been supported. Rewarding research that expands the boundaries of science and thought and guides the future is also an indication of the value Sabancı University places on free academic thought.”
The theme of 2026 is “Rethinking Governance Beyond Borders”
On the theme of this year’s award program, “Re-aligning Values in a Transforming World Order: What needs preserving, reevaluating, and redefining?”, Güler Sabancı said, “In the era we live in, we observe that change is happening faster than ever and values are being reshaped. As science, politics, economy, culture, and social structures are undergoing transformation, the question of which values we should protect and which ones we should reevaluate is important.” Sabancı, who also announced the theme determined for the award program for 2026, made the following statements: “Inspired by the words of the great leader Atatürk, who said ‘For everything in the world, for materiality, for spirituality, for life, the most genuine guide is science’, we embrace the legacy of our Republic, the foundations of which are built on science and reason, and continue to work tirelessly in the light of science. In this regard, we have determined the theme of the 2026 Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards as “Rethinking Governance Beyond Borders”. I wish success to young scientists who apply for the award and inspire original and innovative studies with their research.”
Jury Prize Special Award goes to political theorist Wendy Brown
The Special Jury Prize for the 2025 Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards was awarded to Wendy Brown, UPS Foundation Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study. Speaking at the ceremony, Wendy Brown said, “I offer my profound thanks to the Sabancı Foundation and Sabancı University for this honor. Sakıp Sabancı understood, and generously supported, open intellectual inquiry and the educated development of citizens for a thriving democracy. The Sabancı Research Awards as well as Sabancı University strive to protect and elevate these values. I am honored to join the Sabancı circle of award winners.”
Brown, who also touched on the theme of this year’s award program, continued as follows: “We have to begin by confronting the fact that values are human-made. We are the meaning makers. We do not discover values, but decide and affirm them. But their human-madeness in no way diminishes the importance of values. They are at the heart of human freedom. Sakıp Sabancı knew the value of values, and the importance of education in developing them. This appreciation is embodied in his research awards and in the characteristics of the University that takes his name. Now it is up to us protect such institutions. They literally harbor the future of democracy of life itself.”
The 2025 Article Award of the Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards was given to Uğur Aytaç from the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Utrecht University, Cenk Özbay from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Sabancı University, and Vafa Ghazavi from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney.