Akıngüç Award'23 and BİLSAP Awards were given to their owners at ceremonies held at Akıngüç Auditorium and Art Center. The ceremonies were held on the same day for the presentation of two awards, one of which was a competition and a comparative scientific research support program prepared by Istanbul Kültür University (İKÜ), turned into a scientific festival. Also at the ceremony, Kültür College student Can Saraç, who won the Michelangeli Award at the international Piano Academy Eppan piano competition during the international months, presented a recital. Akıngüç Awards that has been organized by our university since 2018 was opened this year for applications for scientific research carried out with the theme of "Environment and Human" in the branches of medicine, biology, medical biology, molecular biology, chemistry and biochemistry .

Chaired by Prof. Dr. Çimen Atak, one of our faculty members from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics (MOBİGEN), and together with our Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Gülce Öğrüç Ildız, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences Prof. Dr Nazif Ekin Akalan, Prof. Dr. Nihal Sarıer, one of our faculty members from the Department of Civil Engineering, Prof. Dr. Seyhan Altun, our Head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Gazi University. As a result of the evaluations of the Selection Committee, of which Prof. Dr. Belma Aslim is a member, Assoc. Prof. Gülşah Çongur won first place with her work titled “Monitoring OG Glyphosate-DNA Interaction and Synergistic Genotoxic Effect of Glyphosate and 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid Using an Electrochemical Biosensor” among the candidates who applied for the Akıngüç Award and Assist. Prof. Merve Erginer was deemed worthy of an honorable mention with her work titled "Investigation of the Potential of Halomonas Levan and Its Derivatives as Active Ingredients in Cosmeceutical and Skin Renewing Formulations".

The awards were given at the ceremonies held at the Akıngüç Auditorium and Art Center in the Ataköy building of the Bakırköy campus on Friday, December 22, 2023. Within the scope of the event following the presentation of the Akıngüç Awards, awards were given to our academics who were deemed worthy of awards within the scope of the Scientific and Artistic Activities Support Program (BILSAP) for their studies in the 2022-2023 Academic Year.

The ceremony started with young pianist Can Saraç playing his repertoire specially prepared for the day for the participants. After Can Saraç's highly acclaimed performance, first our Rector Prof. Dr. Fadime Üney Yüksektepe and then our Chairperson of the Board of Trustees Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver made the opening speeches.

The career journey of Elif Eda Güneş, one of our students from the Department of Entrepreneurship, starting from the rural and continuing at İKÜ, was published in Hürriyet newspaper on December 25, 2023, with the title "She learned software without a computer."

Within the scope of the activities of the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design of the Faculty of Architecture, a seminar was given on Friday, December 22, 2023, at the Önder Öztunalı Conference Hall in the Ataköy building of the Bakırköy campus, by Tahincioğlu Holding Design Office Coordinator Architect Kader Şahin Geyyas on the renovation and application processes in buildings.

An event titled "The Sector Coming to Campus: Sharing Experiences Seminar" was held on Tuesday, December 26, coordinated by IKU Technology Transfer Office, hosted by the Faculty of Art and Design and supported by Digital Panorama (https://digitalpanorama.com.tr/).  The event held at the Önder Öztunalı Conference Hall in the Ataköy building of the Bakırköy campus, was attended by Kaan Azov (Head of Still Image), Zehra Güvenç (Art Director) and Teberdar Gürbey (Lead 3D Modeling Production) from Digital Panorama who participated as the speakers.

The guest speakers, who met with the students of the Department of Cartoon and Animation, Department of Communication and Design and Department of Communication Arts, gave information about the company and its professional activities as well as talking about business development and process management through their completed projects.

The questions posed by the IKU students regarding the work experience required by the sector, the required qualities, internship opportunities and recruitment processes were answered by the speakers.

A meeting was held after the event joined by the İKÜ TTO team, IKU department heads and Digital Panorama officials to plan and set the dates for the technical trip event, student portfolio assessment workshops and competitions to be held as a part of the cooperation.

Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) Vocational School Construction Technology Program organized a seminar titled "THBB (Turkish Ready Mixed Concrete Association) Introduction and Developments in Concrete Technology" on Thursday, December 21, 2023. The event, which was moderated by Lecturer Elif Aydın, Head of the Construction Technology Program, was attended by Reşat Sönmez, Secretary General of Turkish Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Hakan Zengin, Corporate Communications Manager and Cenk Kılınç, Master Civil Engineer, Test Laboratory Manager.

A seminar titled "Challenging Difficult Conditions: Psychological Resilience" was organized by the Program of Guidance and Psychological Counselling on Wednesday, December 13, at the Küçükçekmece campus conference hall. At the event where Gazi University faculty member Prof. Dr. Şerife Işık was the speaker, topics such as the determinants of psychological resilience, risk factors and protective factors were touched upon.

Bektosh Khatamow, Founder of Uzbekistan Profi University, paid a visit to Istanbul Kültür University.  Khatamow, had a meeting with IKU Sports Coordinator İsmail Çakıt in which he was informed on sports teams, sports activities and sports events. During the meeting, the issue of possible collaborations was also brought up and discussed.

A conference titled "How to Teach Vocabulary" was organized by ELT Club to enlighten the students of the Department of English Language Teaching, especially on "Brain-Based Vocabulary Teaching" and on the art of vocabulary teaching in general. The event, which was held on Monday, December 25 at 12.00 in the Küçükçekmece campus conference hall, Assist. Prof. Hakan Dilman from Istanbul Maltepe University participated as a speaker.

A webinar event was held with the joint efforts of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics (MOBİGEN) and the Library and Documentation department, about the scientific research and educational resource platform JOVE, on Thursday, December 7, 2023.  Curriculum Specialist and a representative of the JOVE platform , Melita Parlak participated in the event as a speaker.  In the event, in which the IKU Head of Library and Documentation Department Yasemin Balcı and the Deputy Head Senem Güneysu also participated as speakers, extensive information was given on accessing JOVE resources, integration of videos on the platform into courses, and accessibility.

Mathematics and Computer Club organized an event titled "DevXperience Session 3" on Friday, December 15, at 15.00, in Bakırköy campus Ataköy building ground floor B corridor amphitheater, to explain the basic concepts of Microsoft Azure Cloud to the participants theoretically and to enable them to reinforce this knowledge in practice. At the event where Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVP) Mustafa Özdemir was the speaker, students were given extensive information about cloud computing concepts, service models and the basic features of Azure.

The project titled "Development of an Integrated Geographic Information System for Spatial Data Analysis", where Deputy Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering Assist. Prof. Duygun Fatih Demirel worked as a consultant and which was carried out in partnership with the companies Gece Yazılım Hizmetleri Ltd. Şti ve Yurtiçi Kargo Servis A.Ş., was accepted to be supported by TÜBİTAK within the scope of the "SME Support Call for 1707 Order-Based R&D Projects".

Ebrar Karakaya, a master’s student of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, participated in the Ankara IX International Scientific Research Congress with an oral presentation titled "Examination of the effects of oleandrin on HEPG2 Liver cancer cell line", which includes the results gathered from the thesis study carried out under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Özge Rencüzoğulları. We congratulate the supervisor and the master’s student and wish them further success.

Mathematics and Computer Club organized an event titled "DevXperience Session 4" on Friday, December 22, to provide students with information about the sector. Hepsiburada officials attended the event as speakers and informed our students about the software technologies and microservices systems they use.

A seminar titled "Sources of Psychological Well-Being", where Prof. Dr. Tayfun Doğan was the speaker, was held by the Program of Guidance and Psychological Counselling, on Wednesday, November 29, at the Küçükçekmece campus seminar hall.

Ayşe Simay Metin, our post-graduate student from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, participated in the 3rd International Congress on Scientific Advances (ICONSAD'23) with an oral presentation titled "Investigation of the Effect of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles in A-498 Renal Cell Carcinoma Cell Line with Increased STAT5 Expression", which includes the results of her thesis study conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Özge Rencüzoğulları. We congratulate our advisor and our student and wish them continued success.

The project titled "Determination of DNA Methylation Profiles of Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr] Boron Transport Genes under Boron Stress", led by Assist. Prof.  Sinan Meriç from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics (MOBİGEN), was deemed entitled to receive funds with the call code 223Z207 as a part of the "TÜBİTAK 1002-A Rapid Support Module".  We congratulate the IKU faculty member and wish them further success in their project.

Istanbul Kültür University sports teams were very active in the TÜSF Interuniversity Regional 1st League competitions.  The IKU teams might not have achieved the desired and anticipated results, they nonetheless showed an admirable effort worthy of sports and IKU with their excellent sportsmanship.

1- IKU Men's Basketball Team, which continued its path undefeated, lost to Haliç University on December 18, 2023 in its 4th match this season.

2- IKU Men's Volleyball Team won the match against Medeniyet University with a score of 3-0 at Boğaziçi University on December 19, 2023.

3- IKU Men's Handball Team lost the match against Istanbul Gedik University with a score of 23-25 on December 19, 2023.

4- IKU Men's Handball Team lost the match against Yeditepe University with a score of 22-21 with the defeating goal being scored in the last seconds at Boğaziçi University Sports Hall on December 26, 2023.

5- Even though IKU Women's and Men's Volleyball Teams, who competed at the ITU Sports Hall on December 26, 2023, showed a worthy effort, they could not get the desired results with IKU Men's Volleyball Team losing against Piri Reis University, and with IKU Women's Volleyball Team putting up a worthy fight but in the end losing against Koç University with a score of 3-2.

6- IKU Men's basketball team lost the match against Istanbul Medipol University with a score of 86-79 at Istanbul Koç University on December 27, 2023.

A chess tournament was organized with the efforts of Istanbul Kültür University (İKÜ) student clubs, at the Ataköy building of the Bakırköy campus on December 15, 2023.

The Mathematics-Computer Club will organize an event titled "DevXperience Session 5" to introduce students to the data science sector and provide mentor support for start-up entrepreneurs. The event, in which Data Scientist Deniz Alkan from DataSpecta will be a speaker, will be held on Saturday, December 30 at 15.00 at the Design Factory in the Ataköy building of Bakırköy campus.

Within the scope of the "Ergotherapy" course given in the Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, a trip to Istanbul Dialogue Museum will be organized on Wednesday, January 3, in order to understand the difficulties experienced by hearing and visually impaired individuals in daily life from the perspective of health personnel.

IKU Young Office will organize "Financial Literacy Training" in order to inform our students about key financial concepts such as budgeting, saving, borrowing, and investing. The event, in which Assist. Prof. İbrahim Ethem Tarhan, one of our academicians from the Department of Industrial Engineering, will be a speaker, will be held on Wednesday, January 3 at 14.00 at Önder Öztunalı Conference Hall in Bakırköy campus Ataköy building.

Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design will organize a seminar titled "Designer of Tomorrow: Navigating the Digital Frontier with AI" seminar. The event, where Prof. Dr. Havva Alkan Bala from Çukurova University will be the speaker, will be held on Wednesday, January 3, at 15.00 in Seminar Hall II in Bakırköy Campus Ataköy Building.

The white coats, which symbolize the transition of the 1st year students of the Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation to the profession and clinical health sciences, as well as a symbol for physiotherapists, will be worn to our students with a ceremony by our senior physiotherapist professors. The event will be held on Thursday, January 4, between 09.00-13.00 at Önder Öztunalı Conference Hall in Bakırköy campus Ataköy building.

In cooperation with Istanbul Kültür University (IKU) and Cumhuriyet Books, a conference titled "Holding on to Life from Astrology to Astronomy, Alchemy to Chemistry" will be organized. The event, where Psychologist & Author Prof. Dr Üstün Dökmen will be a speaker, will be held on Thursday, January 4 at 14.00 at Akıngüç Auditorium and Art Center in Bakırköy campus Ataköy building.

In cooperation with the Department of Special Education and the Department of Basic Education, a cultural trip will be organized on Friday, January 5 as part of the "EMB0005 Turkish Education Course". Within the scope of the trip; Topkapı Palace, Archeology Museum and Turkish Islamic Science and Technology Museum will be visited.

Within the scope of the "Forensic Genetics" course given at MOBIGEN, a technical trip will be organized to the Forensic Medicine Institution Biology Specialization Department on Friday, January 5.

In cooperation with the Psychology Club and the Department of Psychology, a panel talk titled "Psychological Performance Counseling in Sports: Sharing Experience" will be organized. The event, where Psychologist Ece Çelikbilek Bostan from the Trabzon Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports of the Ministry of Youth and Sports will be the speaker, will be held on Friday, January 5 at 14.00 at the 4th floor multi-purpose hall in the Ataköy building of Bakırköy campus.