Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Çatal was born in 1978, Antalya. He began his academic career as a Research Assistant in 2000. He was promoted to Assistant Professor in 2010, Associate Professor in 2012, and Professor in 2018.

By this time, he has authored over 100 national and international articles, symposium papers, and book chapters. He has served as editor and associate editor in several national and international journals. He has also taken part as a researcher, consultant, and principal investigator in 20 scientific research projects supported by various institutions.

In addition to his academic assignments, Prof. Çatal has held several administrative positions, including Vocational School Director, Dean of the Faculty of Forestry, Department Chair, member of executive boards, and director of research and application centers.

Since 2018, he has been serving in international roles as a Member of the Executive Committee of the Council of European Foresters (CEF) and Vice President of the European Forestry Academic Society (EFAS). Between 2020 and 2024, he served as a Member of the Executive Board of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (UCTEA). During 2024–2025, he chaired the Council of Science and Technical Education within the Interuniversity Board of Turkey.

At present, Prof. Çatal serves as the Rector of Isparta University of Applied Sciences and as a Member of the Executive Board of the Interuniversity Board. He holds chair and board memberships in various non-governmental organizations, as well.

Born on November 27, 1975, in Ankara, Prof. Dr. Uğur ÜNAL graduated from the Department of History Education at Gazi University's Faculty of Education in 1998. He earned his Master of Science degree in 2001 from the Institute of Social Sciences at Gazi University with his thesis titled “Reform Efforts During the Reign of Selim III (Nizâm-ı Cedîd)”. He earned his doctorate in 2006 with his thesis titled “The Ottoman Land Army in the Era of Sultan Abdülaziz (1861–1876)” at the same institute.

He served as a Research Assistant at the Department of History Education, Gazi Education Faculty, Gazi University between 1999 and 2006, as a Lecturer between 2006 and 2009, as an Assistant Professor between 2009 and 2010, and as an Associate Professor between 2010 -2012. Appointed as a Professor in 2017, ÜNAL teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on “History of Turkish Modernization,” “Ottoman Paleography,” “Ottoman Diplomacy,” “History of Turkish Education,” and “Foreign Policy of the Ottoman Empire” at the university. ÜNAL served as Director General of the Prime Ministry State Archives from January 5, 2012, to August 7, 2018. By Presidential Decree No. 2018/77 dated August 7, 2018, he was appointed as the President of the State Archives due to changes in the organizational structure. Following this appointment, Prof. Dr. Uğur ÜNAL was appointed as the Rector of Gazi University on August 16, 2024.

Prof. Dr. Uğur ÜNAL, who has conducted research in the field of Ottoman History in the Modern Era, has authored numerous books on the military system, educational institutions, and reforms during the period of modernization of the Ottoman Empire. He has also published many articles in domestic and international academic journals and delivered numerous oral presentations. Prof. Dr. Uğur ÜNAL, who speaks English, is married and has three children.

Atilla Arkan, a graduate of Adapazarı Imam Hatip High School and Marmara Faculty of Theology (1991), completed his doctorate in Islamic Philosophy at Marmara University Institute of Social Sciences in 1999. He also pursued a second doctoral study at the Institute of Islamic Civilization and Thought, International Islamic University Malaysia, between 1996-1999. He began his academic career at Sakarya University in 1994 and became a professor at the same university in 2013. From 2012 to 2014, he was a visiting research faculty member at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Canada. In addition to his faculty position and role as the Head of the Islamic Philosophy Department at Sakarya University's Faculty of Theology, Prof. Arkan has also served as the Director of Education and Social Policy Research at SETA since 2017. He is proficient in English and Arabic. Prof. Arkan, who specializes in Philosophy of Religion, Islamic Thought, and Contemporary Islamic Thought, has published works including the books "Ibn Rushd's Psychology" and "God in Ibn Maimonides' Philosophy," as well as translations of "Commentary on Psychology / Kitab al-Nafs" and "Islamic Moral Theories."

Prof. Dr. Atilla Arkan is currently the Rector of Ibn Haldun University and also a member of the Presidential Council for Education and Teaching Policies.

Prof. Dr. Musa Kazım ARICAN was born in Dörtyol, Hatay in 1970. He completed his primary education in the town of Karakese and his secondary education in Dörtyol. He completed his university education at Ankara University in 1994.
He taught for one year in Ergani, Diyarbakır in 1994 and began his academic career as a Research Assistant at Sivas Cumhuriyet University in 1995. After completing his doctorate with a thesis titled “Spinoza's Understanding of God,” he became an associate professor in 2010 and a professor in 2015.
He worked at Sivas Cumhuriyet University until the end of 2011 and has continued his academic life at Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University since 2012. He has been serving as the Rector of Ankara University of Social Sciences since February 28, 2020. 
Elected as the President of the Turkish Writers' Union in 2016 and serving in this position for five terms, ARICAN is the Vice President of the “TÜRKSOY Writers' Union,” which was established within the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY) and has “International” status. He is married and has three children.

Born in Trabzon in 1965, Prof. Dr. Hamdullah ÇUVALCI completed his primary education at Trabzon İskenderpaşa Primary School. After completing his secondary education at Trabzon Karma Secondary School, he studied Electrical Engineering at Trabzon Industrial Vocational High School. He received his bachelor's degree in 1986 from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, Karadeniz Technical University. 
He received his master's degree in 1989 and his doctorate in 1996 from the Institute of Science, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon. He worked as a research assistant at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Karadeniz Technical University between 1988 and 1996. In 2004, he was appointed as an assistant professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Karadeniz Technical University. 
He was promoted to associate professor in 2012 and to professor in 2017. He served as vice president and department chair in the Faculty of Engineering. He was the director of the Sürmene Abdullah Kanca Vocational School and the manager of the Materials Science and Production Technologies Application and Research Center. Prof. Dr. Hamdullah ÇUVALCI currently serves as a faculty member in the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering. 
Appointed as rector of Karadeniz Technical University in August 2020, Prof. Dr. Hamdullah ÇUVALCI was reappointed to this position by a Presidential Decree published in the Official Gazette on September 21, 2024. 
He has numerous articles and publications on tribology, alloy design, composite materials, powder metallurgy, and welding.

He was born in Trabzon-Maçka in 1980. He graduated from Hacettepe University, Faculty of Letters, Department of History in 2001. He received his master's degree from Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Science and Letters, Department of History in 2004. He received his doctorate from the Department of History at the State University of New York at Binghamton in 2009. He became an Associate Professor in 2013 and a Professor in 2019. 
In 2016, he was awarded the Outstanding Young Scientist Award (TÜBA-GEBİP) by the Turkish Academy of Sciences. 
As a TÜBİTAK and then Alexander von Humboldt fellow, he spent over two years at the Institute of Turkish Studies at Freie Universität Berlin as a visiting scholar, conducting research on Eastern manuscripts in various libraries in Germany. 
He taught part-time at Maltepe University and Istanbul Bilgi University. 
He served as Dean of the Faculty of Literature at Istanbul Medeniyet University (2022-2025). 
He is a full member of the Scientific Board of the Turkish Historical Society and chairs the Society's International Relations and Translation Science and Practice Section. 
His research focuses on the eighteenth century, consumption, material culture, and self-narratives. 

Five books have been published: Politics and Governance in the Ottoman Empire (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard NELC, 2010), The Judge and His Diary (Istanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Cultural Publications, 2013), Küçükköy Taşlıtarla Gaziosmanpaşa (Istanbul: Gaziosmanpaşa Municipality, 2013), History from Below (Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi University Press, 2016), Diplomacy and Literature (Istanbul: Istanbul Medeniyet University & Ankara: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, 2025). 
He publishes a magazine called Ceride.
He was appointed as Rector of İzmir Democracy University by our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN, and the appointment was published in the Official Gazette on September 5, 2025.

Coşkun Polat received his undergraduate degree in 1994 from the Department of Library Science, Faculty of Letters, Hacettepe University. In 1996, he began his academic career as a research assistant in the Department of Library Science at Atatürk University. He completed his master’s degree in 1999 and his Ph.D. in 2005 in the Department of Information Management at Hacettepe University.

He was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Library Science at Atatürk University in 2006, and promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. In 2014, he joined the Department of Information Management at Çankırı Karatekin University as an Associate Professor, and was promoted to Professor in 2016 at the same institution.

His research interests include information literacy, public libraries, reading habits, open access, university libraries, and content analysis. He has authored various publications and participated in several academic projects in these areas. He also serves on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals.

He is currently serving as the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Çankırı Karatekin University.

Born in 1981 in Aydın, he completed his primary and secondary education in Aydın. He graduated from Middle East Technical University, Department of History. She worked as a copywriter and bilingual periodical editor in various agencies. In 2006, he started working as an Assistant Culture and Tourism Specialist at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and became a Culture and Tourism Specialist in 2010. She won the European Union Jean Monnet Scholarship. She graduated from the "Cultural Policy and Cultural Management" master's program at City University of London with the title "Digital Innovation in Not-for-Profit Arts Institutions and its Impact on the Arts and Culture Ecosystem and Policy Making Processes: A Case Study on the "National Theater Live" Application" and graduated with a "Distinction" degree. She then continued her academic studies at King's College London in the Cultural Policy and Cultural Industries PhD Program. He coordinated various cultural and literary promotion events abroad. He presented papers on literary tourism and cultural policies at various international academic meetings. He continues his academic studies on these subjects. He worked as the coordinator of literary activities at the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Center in London for a while. He served as the Counselor for Culture and Promotion in London. After working as the Head of the Publications Department and Deputy General Manager at the General Directorate of Libraries and Publications of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, he is currently working as the General Director.

Mehmet Mirat Satoglu is Director of TUBITAK ULAKBIM. 

TUBITAK ULAKBIM is responsible for providing e-research infrastructures such as HPC and academic network to researchers as well as library and information resources. In his role at TUBITAK ULAKBIM, Mehmet leads national digital resource acquisition initiative EKUAL including two transformative agreements making more than 12000 articles Open Access, as well as DergiPark - national Open Access journal hosting platform with 2400+ journals and TR Index, national index of high quality journals. ULAKBIM also provides several Open Science initiatives such as Aperta RDM platform, Harman (Harvester) and Open Science courseware along with academic network, academic cloud and HPC infrastructures.

Mehmet currently represents TUBITAK and Turkey as delegate in GÉANT, EOSC, EuroHPC (European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking) boards, SCOAP3 Executive Committee and EGI Executive Board.

Mehmet holds a BS degree from Computer Science, Bilkent University, MSc and MLA degrees from Ege University and University of Pennsylvania respectively.

He completed his undergraduate education in 2010 at Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Economics, and his master's degree in 2015 at Gazi University Department of Economics, field of Economic Policies.
Between 2011 and 2013, he worked as an assistant expert in the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK) Science Human Resources Support Department, where he was responsible for program management. In 2013, he began working as an assistant expert in the Research, Development, and Entrepreneurship Department of the Ministry of Development. In 2018, he became an expert with his thesis titled “Increasing the Effectiveness of Research Infrastructures in Turkey: Analysis and Recommendations.” Between 2018 and 2021, he served as an expert at the Presidency of Strategy and Budget of the Republic of Turkey for three years. Between 2021 and 2022, he served as the Director of the Investment Programming, Monitoring, and Evaluation Department, responsible for the coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of all public investments. Since October 2022, he has been serving as the Director of the Education Department, which is responsible for primary, secondary, and higher education policies and the investment budgets of these sectors. 
The Education Department evaluates the printed and electronic publications purchased annually by state universities and the investment proposals for library buildings.

Ayhan Tuğlu has completed his Bachelor's degree in the Department of Librarianship of the Faculty of Literature of Istanbul University and his Master's degree in the Department of Management and Organization of the Institute of Social Sciences of Marmara University. He worked as a manager at the Library/administrative units of Marmara University, Bahçeşehir University and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University. He has volunteered as a consultant in the establishment of many libraries.

In 2016, he started to establish the Presidential Library as the Library and Publications Director and continues as the Head of the Presidential Libraries Department.

İsmail ÇETİNKAYA, who graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of Information and Records Management in 1998, completed his master's degree in Business Administration at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University. He worked as a Researcher in the Ministry of Forestry's Ottoman Period Forestry Research Project and publication, as a Librarian at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and as an Instructor at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, and mainly conducted Medical Librarianship and Medical Documentation courses. Çetinkaya served as the Head of the Library and Documentation Department at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University between 2006 and 2021 and has been working as the Head of the Library and Documentation Department at Isparta University of Applied Sciences since January 19, 2021. Çetinkaya, who conducted the Science Board Membership and Information Literacy course in the Primary and Secondary Education Project Execution and Science Counseling Education Project (Science Counseling Workshop in Education) carried out by the TÜBİTAK Scientist Support Department in 2007-2008, and in 2014, he was appointed by the Higher Education Board to study the University Libraries Study. Group (Improving University Libraries and Setting Standards) and was among those who prepared the report titled “The Current Situation of University Libraries in Turkey Towards 2023, Problems, Standards and Suggestions for Solutions”. Çetinkaya, who has been serving as ANKOS Board Member since 2010, has been serving as ANKOS President since 05 August 2022. He continues to share his professional knowledge and experience by taking part in many national and international events in the field of librarianship and publishing. Çetinkaya is married and has one child.

Ertuğrul Çimen has a BS from Hacettepe University Faculty of Literature, Librarianship Department, and an MA from Kadir Has University, Social Sciences Institute, Finance, and Banking Program. His current position is the library director of MEF University.

His professional interests are academic library management, library consortia, license agreements for e-resources, library collaboration, resource sharing, document delivery, lifelong learning, and staff exchange programs for librarians.

He has held active roles in NGOs and professional organizations at both national and international levels. Ertuğrul Çimen currently serves as the Chair of the IFLA Regional Council and is a Member of the IFLA Governing Board. He is an editorial board member of the Information Discovery and Delivery Journal (Emerald Publishing).

In the past, he served as: President of the Anatolian University Libraries Consortium (ANKOS), Executive Board Member of the Turkish Librarians Association (TLA), Information Coordinator and Secretary of the IFLA Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Standing Committee, Information Coordinator of the IFLA Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) Advisory Board, Chair of the IFLA Europe Regional Division Committee, and a Member of the IFLA Regional Council, Coordinator of the Sustainable Libraries Standing Committee of the University and Research Library Association (UNAK). He has published articles, presentations, book chapters, and research papers in different languages, such as English, Italian, Japanese, Hungarian, and Turkish.

Fikri Arda CANPOLAT is a professional who has gained extensive knowledge and experience by working on numerous projects in the fields of Defense Industry and Security. After graduating with an engineering degree, he deepened his interest in Strategic Management and completed his MBA program with a thesis on Strategic Management and Crisis Management. His thesis focused on global security architecture, decision-making processes of states during crises, and artificial intelligence-based strategic management models.
Following extensive training in diplomacy, foreign affairs, and security bureaucracy, CANPOLAT established the Cyber Diplomacy Association and Center to strengthen international cooperation and reduce risks in the cyber domain. As the Center's Founding and Board Chairman, he conducts strategic studies aimed at reducing cyber threats, strengthening cyber intelligence, and developing artificial intelligence-based security architectures. In this context, he aims to increase inter-state cyber cooperation, transform cyber diplomacy capacity into an institutional structure, and contribute to the establishment of cyber peace at the global level.

CANPOLAT has prepared numerous reports, policy recommendations, and national-level strategic plans in the fields of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cognitive security, strategic management, and crisis analysis by ensuring strategic coordination between government agencies, security bureaucracy, and the private sector. These outputs provide concrete contributions to strengthening Turkey's digital sovereignty and security policies.
CANPOLAT, who is also an active representative of a non-governmental organization, has spoken at numerous national and international conferences and panels on cybersecurity and diplomacy, and has published academic and strategic articles.
With his expertise in strategic management and his work on technology, he contributes to shaping Turkey's cybersecurity and artificial intelligence-based security policies.

He completed his primary, secondary, and high school education in Istanbul-Üsküdar. He pursued his university education at Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters, Department of History between 1985-1989. In October 1988, he began working as an Archive Officer at the Presidential Ottoman Archives. He completed his Master's degree in 1994 and his Doctorate in 2001 at Istanbul University. In September 1993, he was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of History at Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. After completing his doctoral education, he started working as a faculty member in the Department of Archival Studies at Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters. In May 2004, he was appointed as the Head of Department at the Presidential Ottoman Archives Department. Following the end of his duty at the Prime Ministry, he started working at Marmara University. He currently continues his duty as the Head of Library and Documentation Department at Marmara University. Önder Bayır has 6 published books, 4 chapter authorships, and more than 50 published articles.

Sami Çuhadar completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in Information and Document Management at Istanbul University, BA in Economics at Anadolu University, and his PhD studies in Information and Document Management at Çankırı Karatekin University.
Dr. Sami Cuhadar is the Library Director at Istanbul Bilgi University Library and e-Resources in Istanbul, Turkey. He teaches courses on “Research Methods, Artificial Intelligence, and Accessing Information Resources” at Istanbul Bilgi University.
Mr. Çuhadar, who is also active in non-governmental organizations in the field of Librarianship and Information Management, served as the President of the Anatolian University Libraries Consortium (ANKOS), Board of Directors and Statistics Group member. He continues to work as ANKOS Artificial Intelligence Research Group and UNAK-Turkish Law Librarians Platform Coordinator. He has academic studies and publications on total quality management in libraries, distance learning, university libraries, legal information resources, information literacy, artificial intelligence, consortia, electronic resource management, and ranking systems.

Gültekin Gürdal currently serves as the Library Director at İzmir Institute of Technology (IZTECH), a role he has held for over 20 years. Gürdal completed his education in librarianship at Hacettepe University and holds a master's degree in business administration from Kocaeli University. Previously, he worked at prominent institutions such as Bilkent University, TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye), Sabancı University, and TOBB (The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye).

With over 15 years of experience in open access, open science, and open data, Gürdal served as the President of the Anatolian University Libraries Consortium (ANKOS) between 2008 and 2012, and coordinated the ANKOS Open Access and Institutional Repositories Working Group from 2008 to 2018. He is also a member of the Open Science Committee, established by TÜBİTAK in 2015, and the Open Access and Open Science Working Group, formed by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) in 2018. Gürdal also coordinates the sub-working group "Türkiye Research Data and Open Data Task Force" and is a member of the ANKOS Artificial Intelligence Research Group.

Active in the international arena, Gürdal was involved in various phases of OpenAIRE, the European Union's open science infrastructure project, from 2011 to 2021. He was elected as a member of the OpenAIRE Board of Directors in 2021, a position he currently holds. Gürdal is also a member of the DSpace Leadership Group and serves as the Turkish national node representative within the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR). Furthermore, he is a partner in the EU projects PATTERN and DIRNA 'Development of Research Potential Through Institutional Academic Repository Network in Azerbaijan'.

Gürdal holds active memberships in many professional organizations, including the Turkish Librarians' Association (TKD), the University and Research Librarians' Association (ÜNAK), the European Association for Research Information Systems (EuroCRIS), and the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR).

Gürdal also possesses a strong entrepreneurial background; he is the founding partner of Research Ecosystems, an R&D company established within the IZTECH Technopark in 2021. With numerous national and international publications, Gürdal closely monitors and implements scientific and technological developments in the field of librarianship.

Tuba has been working in academic libraries for over 24 years at different capacities. She started her career as a systems librarian following her graduation from Indiana University with an MLS. Currently, she works as the library director position at Koç University which is one of the most prominent universities in Turkey.  Within the scope of this position, she manages 5 libraries in 3 different cities in the country. Collection development, e-resources management, library automation, resource sharing and scholarly communication are some of the areas she is responsible for.

She has been actively involved with the Turkish national university libraries consortium (ANKOS) governance, including as its President between 2016-2018. She is an active advocator of open science in the region.

She serves on various national, regional and international advisory boards. She is member of the IFLA Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Standing Committee.

Mujdat Soyturk is a Professor at Marmara University. He received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Computer Engineering from Istanbul Technical University. His research focuses on Connected Cars, V2X communications, Intelligent Transportation Systems, IoT, and Cyber-Physical Systems, with particular interest in cybersecurity, data protection, and the application of AI in these domains. He is the founder and director of the Vehicular Networks and Intelligent Transportation Systems (VeNIT) Research Lab, as well as BigTRI, a leading Turkish SME in connected car technologies. He has led several EU-funded projects and has numerous publications in his fields.

Bas Straub is an innovative, adaptable and solution-focused academic publishing professional with a wealth of experience in journal development, publishing management, society liaison, Open Access, and commercial strategy within both STM as well as HSS. Comprehensive knowledge of the research publishing landscape, with the ability to research and identify business opportunities, monetize content, and develop value-driven, tailored portfolios that drive both revenue growth and market-share. An analytical mind-set, recognising gaps in process and workflow, and developing solutions that create positive functional and financial impact. A strong network within the global scientific academic publishing- as well as academic community, building trust and rapport with a diverse range of key stakeholders in order to build personal credibility, company profile and portfolio position. An intuitive and empathetic leader, engaging, educating and empowering team members to maximise portfolio value and deliver excellence, promoting autonomy, whilst providing relevant coaching and support when required. A champion of strategic growth, taking ownership and accountability for workstreams, and creating positive, productive internal and external partnerships, in order to ensure maximum business contribution and financial return.

Dr. Gizem Gültekin-Várkonyi is an academic specializing in European Union law, digital policies, and the legal and ethical implications of emerging technologies. She holds a BA in Information Management from Hacettepe University and a Master’s degree in International Relations with a focus on EU law and economy from the University of Szeged, where she also completed her PhD on social robots and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Her research explores the intersection of law and technology, particularly the regulatory frameworks governing artificial intelligence, data protection, and risk assessment in digital environments.

Currently, she serves as an assistant professor at the University of Szeged, Faculty of Law. Her academic work focuses on EU digital policies, with a particular emphasis on AI regulation, GDPR, and technology-driven risk assessments. She regularly contributes to interdisciplinary discussions on law, ethics, and emerging technologies, aiming to bridge the gap between legal frameworks and technological advancements.

Ece Tufanyazıcı completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in Information and Document Management at Istanbul University. She works as the Supervisor Librarian responsible for Databases and Serials at Istanbul Bilgi University Library. Since 2018, she has been an active volunteer at the Anatolian University Libraries Consortium (ANKOS), serving as the database liaison for HeinOnline and Westlaw International, and as a member of the License Agreements Working Group.