Advisory Board Members

Alp Ayaydın

Born in Aydın in 1988, Ayaydın graduated from Aydın YDA High School in 2005 and went on to study Public Relations and Advertising at İzmir University of Economics with a full scholarship. After graduating with honors in 2010, he worked at various advertising agencies in Istanbul. In 2011, he pursued further education by completing a Master’s degree in Marketing at the University of Bath in the UK. His thesis, titled “An Analysis of the Effects of Postmodern Youth Soap Operas on Adolescents Through the Lens of Consumer Society Theory,” earned him a distinction. After completing his master’s degree, he embarked on a three-month backpacking trip across South America to improve his Spanish and broaden his cultural perspective.

In 2014, Ayaydın took on the role of General Manager at Aydın Başak College as a second-generation leader, a position he continues to hold. He is also an active member of the Audit Board of the Aegean Private Schools Association. In May 2015, he founded Tales Mathematics Museum, Turkey’s first and only mathematics museum, and the 22nd in the world. He continues to work on transforming the rote learning education system and promoting 21st-century skills.

Andreas Treske

Andreas Treske, born in 1963, is an academic, director, and media artist. He graduated from the Munich University of Television and Film (HFF) in 1992 with a degree in Directing. He has served as a guest lecturer at Leipzig University in Germany, providing expertise in directing, editing, and technical matters. Treske has organized various multimedia and interactive media exhibitions in Turkey, Portugal, and Croatia. 

He has taught courses on film, video, digital cinema, and media theory at Bilkent University. As one of the founders of Bilkent University's Department of Communication and Design, established in 1998, he served as the department chair from 2005 to 2010. From 2011 to 2014, he lectured at İzmir University of Economics in the Department of Media and Communication. He was also among the founding members of the Cinema and Digital Media Department, established at the same university in 2012. Treske continues to serve as the chair of the Department of Communication and Design at Bilkent University.

Ayşe Matay

After graduating from Bilkent University's International Relations Department, she began her career in the Strategic Planning department at Ogilvy Istanbul. She later worked in the Consumer Research and Strategic Planning department at Mindshare, a media planning and buying agency. At Doğuş Media Group's 360 Advertising division, she served as the Project and Business Development Director, producing multi-platform branded content projects for advertisers.

Currently, she works as a Business Development Manager at Madd Entertainment, a foreign series distribution company established under Ay Yapım and Medyapım. In this role, she prepares content sales dossiers, oversees co-production processes, and manages public relations and marketing activities.

Aytül Özkan

She began her career as a System Manager and Foreign News Editor at İzmir's Yeni Asır and Sabah newspapers before moving to Istanbul to work at the advertising agencies Reklam Moran and Ogilvy & Mather. In 1992, she founded Capitol Public Relations Agency. After WPP, the world's largest communication group, acquired all shares of Capitol Public Relations in 2000, she returned to Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Agency as General Manager. In 2001, she was appointed as the Country President of Ogilvy & Mather Turkey, simultaneously serving as the Chairman of the Board for Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Agency, Ogilvy PR, OgilvyAction, Ogilvy CommonHealth, and RedWorks agencies. In 2011, she was elected President of the Advertisers Association. Between 2007 and 2013, she represented advertising associations as a member of the Advertising Board under the Turkish Ministry of Customs and Trade, Directorate General for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance.

Currently, she works as a part-time lecturer at İzmir University of Economics, Faculty of Communication.

Barbaros Görgü

Barbaros Görgü, who graduated from the Department of Media and Communication at İzmir University of Economics in 2015, started his career working on the 5N1K program with Cüneyt Özdemir. 

After his experience with 5N1K, he transitioned into the finance sector, gaining valuable experience. He then worked for Bloomberg HT for two years as a Social Media Specialist and two years as a Digital Content Manager. Later, he entered the advertising and marketing field, where he served as Media Director at a leading advertising agency. During this time, he provided digital marketing and communication consulting to companies such as Popular Science Turkey, as well as to the crypto market, in which he specialized.

Currently, Görgü serves as the Digital Manager at Bloomberg HT.

Prof. Dr. Bülent Çaplı

Çaplı, born in Ankara, graduated from the AİTİA School of Journalism and Public Relations in 1979. In 1981, he received a master's degree from Utah State University in the United States. He continued his doctoral program at Ohio University on a Fulbright scholarship in 1987, and in 1990, he received his PhD from Istanbul University. In 1991, he worked as a visiting researcher at Manchester University on a Chevening scholarship, and in 2002, he held a similar position at the University of Florida on a Fulbright scholarship.

From 1985 to 2010, he worked at the Faculty of Communication at Ankara University, where he held various positions, including department chair, director of the Communication Research Center, and assistant dean. His academic research has focused on media ethics, the political economy of media, media systems, and documentaries. He has also led numerous national and international research projects in the field of communication.

He is currently a professor in the Department of Communication and Design at Bilkent University.

Dilek Gappi

Dilek Gappi, born in İzmir, graduated from İzmir Kız Lisesi and the Faculty of Press and Broadcasting at Ege University. After working as a press consultant at the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, she served as an editor at Hürriyet Newspaper's Editorial Department. She then worked as the editor-in-chief of the national economic newspaper, Gözlem, for seven years. Gappi also held the position of Regional Coordinator for Milliyet Newspaper in the Aegean region, and hosted and produced economy and current affairs programs on local and national TV and radio stations.

Currently, she writes columns for Habertürk Egeli and continues her other projects, focusing on radio programming and documentary filming. Throughout her career, Gappi has received numerous awards and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Behçet Uz Children’s Hospital Foundation (BUVAK), as well as holding honorary positions at the Human Rights Association and the Aegean Businesswomen's Association. She is a mother of one and speaks English and Italian.

She is currently pursuing her master’s degree at the Faculty of Communication at İzmir University of Economics and serves as the president of the İzmir Journalists Association.

Elif Demirci İşleğen

Elif Demirci, born in 1976 in İzmir, graduated from the Journalism Department at Ege University’s Faculty of Communication. She began her career in 1997 as a municipal and political reporter at Ege TV. Before the 2002 elections, she transferred to the İzmir office of Doğan News Agency (DHA) as the regional representative for the Aegean. Along with political reporting, she also covered economics until 2016. Demirci has received numerous awards from the İzmir Journalists Association and other institutions in the field of news reporting.

Between 2016 and 2020, she served as the regional representative for DHA in the Aegean region. Additionally, she was a member of the Board of Trustees at İzmir University of Economics from 2018 to 2020.

Emine Uysal Berger

Born in İzmir in 1982, she received acting training from Sönmez Atasoy at the Youth Theater established by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality during high school. She continued her acting studies at Karel Genç Sanat. She graduated in 2005 from the Cinema-TV Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dokuz Eylül University, where she received training in directing. She worked as an assistant director for the documentaries "Adım Adım İstanbul" for TRT and "İnsanın Ağaçla Dansı Kündekari" for the Turkish Ministry of Culture. She wrote and directed short film scripts.

In 2006, she began working at İzmir Metropolitan Municipality’s İzmir Sanat Center. She also assisted the direction of the theater play "Yurdum Kılındığında Tüm Dünya" as part of the European Union project. Between 2015 and 2019, she managed İzmir Sanat. She has served on advisory boards and as a jury member for film festivals, as well as taking on coordination roles. As the cinema coordinator at the Cultural and Art Department of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, she has prepared and managed the "Engelsiz İzmir National Short Film Competition" and the ongoing "Yeniden Sinematek" film programs and presentations since 2009. She continues her work as a project coordinator for various cinema organizations.

İhsan Özçıtak

He graduated from Kadıköy Anadolu High School and the Economics Department of Boğaziçi University. His passion for theater, which began in high school, led to a long university student life. He was a member of Boğaziçi University Players and Theater Boğaziçi, where he worked as an actor, dramaturg, writer, and director. He tried to become a theater artist until the age of 30 but could not. As a consolation prize, he became an advertiser. He worked as a writer, strategist, and manager at various companies within the Fine Arts Group. In 2016, he joined Deeper, a data-driven behavioral marketing company, as a managing partner. He teaches behavioral marketing at Brand School and writes monthly articles on the same topics for MediaCat magazine.

Murat Attila

He was born in 1966 in Balıkesir. After completing Akhisar High School, he graduated from the Department of Journalism and Public Relations at Ege University Faculty of Communication in 1989. He began his journalism career in 1986 at Yeni Asır Newspaper. Later, he worked at Fotospor and Yenigün newspapers. He worked as a sports reporter, editor, night editor, and sports columnist. From 2009 to 2014, he served as a sports writer and editor at Yeni Asır Newspaper. In 2014, he started as the Managing Editor at 9 Eylül Newspaper. He served as the editor-in-chief for 7 years at 9 Eylül Newspaper. He served on the board of directors of the İzmir Journalists' Association for two terms and held the position of vice president. He also served as an administrator at the Izmir branch of the Turkish Sports Writers Association. In 2021, he started as the Publications Coordinator at İz Medya, where he continues to work.

Necla Zarakol

She graduated from the Radio-TV Department of the Faculty of Communication at Ankara University in 1970. After working at TRT News Center (1971-1981), she served at the Ankara Bureau of Güneş Newspaper (1982-1984) and as the Assistant News Director in Istanbul (1984-1985). Between 1985 and 1990, she worked as the Public Relations Manager at Okan Holding, and later became a consultant for the “Bizim İnsanlarımız” program on TRT Istanbul Television. From 1991 to 1992, she worked as the PR director at RPM Radar. At the end of 1992, she founded Zarakol Public Relations Company and left the advertising industry. Necla Zarakol continues her role as the Chairman of the Board at Zarakol Public Relations Company.

Zarakol has served on the boards of several organizations, including Communication Consulting Companies (İDA), the Turkish Public Relations Association (TÜHİD), and the Private Sector Volunteers Association (ÖSGD). She also continues as the Vice Chairman of the Board at the Turkey Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV).

She has taught public relations courses at the Faculty of Communication at Eastern Mediterranean University and İzmir University of Economics. She has delivered opening speeches at Yaşar University and Kocaeli University and has given conferences at Aydın University, Bahçeşehir University, Bilgi University, and Istanbul Kültür University. Since the Spring Semester of the 2019-2020 Academic Year, she has been teaching courses on volunteering at İzmir University of Economics as a part-time instructor.

Prof. Dr. Nezih Erdoğan

Born in 1959, Nezih Erdoğan has taught courses in film history, screenwriting, and film theory at Bilkent University, İzmir University of Economics, İstanbul Bilgi University, and Şehir University. He continues to conduct research and publish work on early cinema in Turkey, popular Turkish cinema, and sound in cinema. In 2019, his book *The Early Years of Cinema in Istanbul: Modernity and Spectatorial Adventures* was published by İletişim Publications. At the beginning of 2023, he co-edited *Exploring Past Images in a Digital Age: Forgetting the Archive*, which will be published by Amsterdam University Press. He currently teaches film history, film theory, the art of storytelling, and screenwriting at İstinye University.

Oğulcan Bakiler

He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Media and Communication Department at İzmir University of Economics. After completing internships at institutions such as Açık Radyo, Agos Newspaper, and CNN Türk, he currently works as a multimedia reporter at Voice of America.