• Erasmus Plus project "POWER - Empowerment of Youth on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Societies", COMD Project Manager Assist. Prof. Dr. Lutz Peschke

COMD committed to environmental science communication

Under the direction of project manager Asst. Prof. Dr. Lutz Peschke, Bilkent’s Department of Communication and Design is part of a European consortium involved in the Erasmus Plus project ‘POWER - Empowerment of Youth on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Societies,’ along with partners in Germany, Austria, and Spain. The aim of the POWER project is to create event formats that attract people, particularly young people, to consider and inform themselves about renewable energy.

The motivation for this project is that students still get only theoretical and insufficient knowledge about renewable sources of energy, which are available everywhere and rely on established and relatively simple technologies to access. Failure to understand the benefits of renewable energy privileges conventional energy sources and makes change more difficult than it needs to be. It is vital that the next generation develops a solid understanding of renewable energy’s power and its possible applications.

Within the scope of this project, COMD undergraduate students in the elective course ‘Science Writing and Journalism will develop an exhibition that will be presented at the Bilkent University campus in February 2019 and at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in March 2019. Two M.A. students will also undertake reception studies of this environmental science communication within the scope of their thesis work.

The results of this project, as well as the exhibition itself, will compete in regional science festivals organized by the Ankara Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanisation and held in five cities throughout Turkey.

  • Media Archeology with the Media Archeology Lab
"Play/Pause, FF/Rewind // Shared Practices & Archaeologies of Media", (2017). Workshop & Symposium, with Jussi Parikka, Annie van der Oever, and Wolfgang Ernst, 

A five-day event on Shared Practices & Archaeologies of Media. The event gathered together international scholars and artists exploring media archaeology. The keynote speakers of “Play/Pause, FF/Rewind” were Wolfgang Ernst, Annie van den Oever, and Jussi Parikka. The program concluded with a roundtable discussion of October 6th from 6 to 8 pm at Erimtan Arkeoloji ve Sanat Müzesi.

Network on online video starting in 2008 and continuing. In cooperation with the Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 11 conferences worldwide, "Video Vortex 3" hosted by Bilkent University in Ankara, Video Vortex X was organized by COMD in Istanbul, Video Vortex XI was co-organised in India
  • New Media Open Lab, Core team: Assist. Prof. Ersan Ocak (TEDU), Funda Şenova Tunalı (Bilkent COMD), Fulten Larlar (Bilkent COMD), Erhan Tunalı (Bilkent GRA), Levent Y. İnce (Bilkent COMD)

New Media_OpenLab is a space for creating concepts and developing projects on new media storytelling. It is a lab for both theoretical exploration and practice-led research on new forms and platforms of storytelling in new media. In NM_OpenLab, we aim to bring theory and practice together to produce open knowledge in new media storytelling. Hence, we make seminars and organise workshops. NM_OpenLab is also a collaborative space for practice-led research. Therefore, we develop, design and produce digital media storytelling projects, in which we question and re-establish theoretical elaboration and deepen our research. 

NM_OpenLab is a space of encounter between and among storytellers (filmmakers, artists), scholars, researchers, programmers (aka coders), designers, etc. 

  • Towards a deeper understanding of Rural Europe
EU Civil Society project from 2008 till 2010 in cooperation with Leiden University in NL and University of Strasbourg in France. https://dutchartinstitute.eu/page/705/2008-2009-towards-a-deeper-understanding-of-rural-europe-alite-thijsen-for-da
  • START - Science, Technology and Art Initiative 2005 - 2010
  •  "Türkiye için Yeni Bilgi Toplumu Teknolojileri - BTT Turkiye Projesi Multimedia Arastirma Grubu", TUBITAK-Bilkent University 2005 - 2009
  • "Video Crossing", Collaboration with International Short Film Festival Detmold, Germany, a realization of German-Turkish film workshop at the international short film festival Detmold – Project Leader Bilkent University, September/October 2006 
  • "Refugee Communication Project by the Arthur W. Page Center", COMD Faculty Emel Özdora Akşak is part of an international research team funded by the Arthur W. Page Center's Refugee Communication Project to understand the media framing of over 4 million Syrian refugees.
  • Project "M.I.O", The Department of Communication and Design actively collaborates with BilCat and Bilkent Animals' Friends Club for providing water, food, and shelter for campus cats, especially during winter, trying to improve their living conditions.