News from COMD Graduate Students

Cemre Ilgaz Öz designs logo for the Association of Adaptation Studies

Graduate student Cemre Ilgaz Öz (M.A. Media & Visual Studies) has designed a new logo for the Association of Adaptation Studies (AAS). The new look for the organization was officially launched and enthusiastically received at their 2025 conference hosted in early June by Istanbul Bilgi University, where Öz also presented original research on podcasting and audio nostalgia. We congratulate her for this success! 

Conference Diaries: Summer 2025

COMD graduate students in the Media & Visual Studies program spent summer 2025 on the move, bringing their work to scholarly audiences around the world at a wide range of virtual and in-person conferences. 

The 21st Graduate Conference of the Siyasi İlimler Türk Derneği (Turkish Political Science Association) conference took place in May at Antalya Bilim University, featuring presentations from Aycan Yücel, Bersun Kılınç, Cemal Ataş, Cemre Ilgaz Öz, Dersu Doğan, Gizem Ayşe Erdeniz, Zeren İldoğan, and H. Zeynep Can.

Cemal Ataş participated in this year’s International Communication Association (ICA) Conference in several capacities thanks in part to grant support from TÜBITAK and ICA Political Communication Division. Recent M.A. graduate Mehmet Kızıklı‘s (2025) thesis research on the experiences of LGBTQ+ refugees was also presented at ICA. 

In June, Bilkent was well represented at the 20th annual Association of Adaptation Studies conference, hosted this year by Istanbul Bilgi University. Included on the program were research presentations from current MA students Aycan Yücel, Anastasiia Denisenko, Bersun Kılınç, Cemre Ilgaz Öz, H. Zeynep Can, Berkehan Kalkandelen, and Adnan Şahin. Presentations were also given by recent M.A. graduates Ada Özduran (2024) and Günce Yöndem (2025). The conference program was developed by Şahin, Özduran, and Yöndem with guidance from Assoc. Prof. Colleen Kennedy-Karpat. The AAS 2025 conference abstracts have been published by Istanbul Bilgi University Press, and the conference review written by Özduran and Yöndem is set to appear in the journal Adaptation later this year. 

Many students attended other national and international conferences related to their research. Adnan Şahin presented research from his M.A. thesis project on Turkish state funding for filmmaking at the HoMER Network (History of Moviegoing, Exhibition and Reception) conference, hosted at Galatasaray University. Aycan Yücel presented her work on Jeffrey Dahmer docuseries at the online symposium “(Untrue) True Crime: Historicising, Contextualising, Rewriting,” hosted by the University of Warsaw. Sena Begüm Giray presented at the Digital Games As Cultural and Literacy Narratives conference organized by the American Studies Departments of Turkey and hosted at Hacettepe University. Ayşegül Karabay presented work on Duolingo at the 11th International Communication Days Symposium hosted by Üsküdar University. Melissa Çalışkan participated in the 11th International Conference on Communication & Media Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore with her research on gaming fandoms. Bersun Kılınç and Cemal Ataş presented work on AI and Turkish comedy at the International Society for Humor Studies (ISHS) conference held in Krakow, Poland. 

Warm congratulations to all our students on their conferencing achievements! 

Graduate Student Publications 

COMD is proud to share recently published work by students in the MA in Media & Visual Studies program. 

Adnan Şahin published a video essay in Issue 13 of Tecmerin: Screen Stars Dictionary. Each entry in the Screen Stars Dictionary aims to express the defining characteristics of a specific star through a single word, and for stunt man Dar Robinson, Şahin selected “adrenaline.” 

Looking at Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda, Sena Begüm Giray published an article in the journal Cinematic Codes Review titled “A Detailed Look into Hirokazu Koreeda’s Auteurship and What It Really Means to Be a Family.”

In March 2025, Dersu Doğan published an entry on the Institute of Networked Cultures blog documenting the unrest taking place at that time throughout Türkiye: “Gen Z on Turkish Streets: ‘They Thought We Were Slaves to a Disgraced Future.’” 

Congratulations to all our graduate student authors!