4 more projects in which academics from BİLGİ Department of International Relations serve as coordinators and researchers have received grants from the European Commission

4 more projects in which academics from BİLGİ Department of International Relations serve as coordinators and researchers were awarded with grants from the European Commission. With the newly accepted projects, the number of projects supported by the European Commission in BİLGİ Department of International Relations has risen to 21 and the total grant amount has increased to 4,4 million Euros.

The project presented by the consortium including Prof. Ayhan Kaya, Faculty Member at the Department of International Relations and Director of European Institute, as co-coordinator and Faculty Member, Özge Onursal Beşgül, PhD from the Department of International Relations and the Vice Director of European Institute, as researcher has received the support of European Commission’s Erasmus + Jeanne Monnet Policy Debate Programme.

The project, which will be carried out by a consortium composed of 21 partners from 18 countries, aims to investigate various objections directed to EU values, present a realistic explanation regarding EU policy, acquire more information about potential and successful counter-strategies for these objections, and develop an alternative policy agenda.

RESAID receives the support of Jean Monnet Centres of Excellence Program

The project titled ‘RESAID: Creating Societal Cognitive Resilience Against Information Disorders’ including Prof. Emre Erdoğan from BİLGİ Department of International Relations as coordinator; Prof. Pınar Uyan Semerci, Faculty Member, Mehmet Ali Tuğtan, PhD, Faculty Member, Tuğçe Erçetin, PhD from the same department; communication professional Utku Aksoy, and Şaban Çaytaş, PhD candidate in Marmara University as research team was awarded with the support of European Commission’s Jean Monnet Centres of Excellence Program.

Coordinated by BİLGİ, the project aims to identify false narratives, debunk misinformation, reduce the spreading of false narratives, and increase cognitive resilience by means of educational tools such as short viral videos, online games, massive open online courses (MOOCs), workshops, trainings, and publications. The project also aims to provide a consistent framework for the EU policies and measures regarding information disorders.

Two projects receive the support of Horizon Europe Programme

The project titled ‘CO3: COntinuous COnstruction of Resilient Social COntracts through Societal Transformations’ by a consortium including Prof. Pınar Uyan Semerci from BİLGİ Department of International Relations as co-coordinator and Prof. Emre Erdoğan and Faculty Member, Tuğçe Ertekin, PhD from the Department of International Relations as researchers was awarded with the support of the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Programme. The consortium consisting of 10 partner institutions from 10 different countries will be coordinated by Demos Helsinki Research Institute from Finland. As part of the project, the concept of ‘Social Contract’ in the framework of multiple crises and societal transformations both from a theoretical and practical standpoint in the context of the existing social contracts will be addressed and evaluated at local, regional, national, and transnational levels. As part of the project that aims to develop and foster a more democratic, inclusive, and open social contract model, empirical studies will be conducted in 8 EU member states and three non-member states.

The other project that was entitled to receive the support of European Commission’s Horizon Europe Programme is ‘PLEDGE: Politics of Grievance and Democratic Governance’ including Prof. Ayhan Kaya, Faculty Member at the Department of International Relations and the Director of European Institute, as co-coordinator, and Prof. Pınar Uyan Semerci and Prof. Emre Erdoğan, Faculty Members at the Department of International Relations, as researchers. Adopting a participative research design and implementation, the project aims to provide a new understanding regarding the anti-democratic and democratic qualities of political demands and create emotionally intelligent and sensitive democratic governance and policy communication tools and practices fostering democratic civil engagement forms.

Aiming to present an outline of the emotional mechanisms of the anti-democratic and democratic demands explicating the mutual dynamic relations among the emotions, values, and identities of citizens and groups, the project focuses on 11 countries and 3 great crises (the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, climate/energy crisis). The consortium consisting of 15 partners from 12 countries will be coordinated by University of Helsinki.

4 projects funded by the European Commission continue

4 projects that were awarded with grants by the European Commission still continue. Faculty Member at BİLGİ Department of International Relations, Assoc. Prof. Hasret Dikici Bilgin’s project titled ‘De-Radicalisation in Europe and Beyond: Detect, Resolve, Re-Integrate’ was was awarded with the support of the European Commission under Horizon 2020 and the project titled ‘OppAttune: Countering Oppositional Political Extremism through Attuned Dialogue: Track, Attune, Limit’ was awarded with the support of the Horizon Europe Programme.

Faculty Member, Özge Onursal Beşgül, PhD from BİLGİ Department of International Relations and Vice President of European Institute was awarded with the European Commission Erasmus+ Programme Jean Monnet Chair with her project titled ‘BILGINormsEU: JM Chair on Norms and Turkey-EU Relations.’

Prof. Ayhan Kaya, Faculty Member at BİLGİ Department of International Relations and Director of European Institute, was awarded an ‘Advanced Grant’ by the European Research Council (ERC), one of the most prestigious research institutions of Europe, for his project titled ‘Nativism, Islamophobism and Islamism in the Age of Populism: Culturalisation and Religionisation of what is Social, Economic and Political in Europe.’ Prof. Ayhan Kaya’s project is the first social sciences project at a Turkish university to receive an ‘Advanced Grant’ from ERC.