News from Department

Between May 15–18, 2025, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Gürsoy and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esra Bayhantopçu from Kadir Has University held a series of meetings within the scope of TÜBİTAK Project No. 124K370. These meetings were conducted with officials from Hatay Metropolitan Municipality; President of the Hatay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Hikmet Çinçin; Secretary General Mr. Ali Mullaoğlu; and Director of Project Coordination and Research, Ms. Ecem Gaye Yeşil. Additional discussions took place with Mr. Cengiz Şenkule, Director of Culture and Social Affairs of Antakya Municipality, focusing on local crafts and women’s labor.
Furthermore, conversations were held at the Hatay Culture and Artisans’ Bazaar—which includes 82 workshops, 7 restaurants, a cafeteria, a small cinema, and a meeting hall—regarding challenges and future expectations in the production and marketing of handmade goods, with the aim of revitalizing cultural heritage.

Organized in collaboration with the Department of Economics and the Economic Policy Research Center (EPAM), the 2025 ISU Women in the Workforce Workshop took place on May 13, 2025, at the Vadi H Campus Conference Hall. The event was part of the 21st Century Competencies Manifest 2 within the scope of the Career Journey course.

The online event titled “The Role of the Individual Pension System in the National Savings Mechanism,” organized in collaboration between the Economic Policy Research Center (EPAM) and the Department of Economics, was held on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at 5:30 PM via Microsoft Teams.

Two outstanding students from Istinye University’s Department of Economics — Yusuf Efe Torun (1st year) and Sema Nur Yücel (3rd year) — have been selected to participate in the university’s prestigious Leader Student Program, marking a significant achievement.

The Leader Student Program aims to cultivate academically strong, self-confident individuals capable of making meaningful contributions to society. It offers a comprehensive training experience focused on developing intellectual knowledge, leadership, communication, critical and creative thinking skills.

As part of the Healthineering 2 – Sustainability Training event organized by the IEEE Student Branch Club at Istinye University on April 16, 2025, Associate Professor Dr. Çiğdem Gürsoy delivered a training session on the Sustainable Development Goals to students from Istinye University and various other universities.

The Department of Economics held its 2nd alumni meeting as part of the 2025 Spring Workshop. Our graduates and current interns shared their professional experiences with current students and high school participants.

As part of the Department of Economics Alumni Experience Meetings, our graduates Güney Özütutar and Hilal Teke shared their professional experiences with current students.

Department of Economics member Assoc. Prof. Ayfer Ustabaş visited the Politecnico de Guarda Institute as part of the Erasmus program.

Through the efforts of Assoc. Prof. Ayfer Ustabaş from the Department of Economics, and Dr. Eylül Beyza Çiftçi from the Department of International Relations, an Erasmus partnership agreement has been signed specifically for the Department of Economics with the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada).

A feedback meeting was held with the Economics Department students and all academic staff of the department for the Spring 2025 semester.

Economics Department student Sema Nur Yücel’s project titled “Women’s Labor Force Participation and Economic Growth: An Econometric Analysis for Turkey”, conducted under the supervision of our faculty member Dr. İlayda İsabetli Fidan, has been selected for support within the scope of TÜBİTAK 2209-A – Research Projects Support Program for Undergraduate Students.

We wish our student continued success.

The new book Silikon Banker by our Economics Department faculty member, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Caner Özdurak, has been published by Bookarion. The book will be available on shelves starting May 20, and we highly recommend it to anyone interested in economics and finance.

At the seminar attended by Elazığ Deputy Mayor Nazif Bilginoğlu and Provincial Director of Culture Mehmet Karaaslan, Head of the Department of Economics Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Gürsoy and Kadir Has University faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esra Bayhantopçu delivered a presentation on “Women’s Handicrafts and Our Cultural Heritage.” The seminar, which attracted great interest from women, was held within the scope of the TÜBİTAK 1001 Project.

The 2025 Spring Economics Workshop for high school students was held on April 19–20, 2025, with the participation of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Gürsoy, Dr. Lecturer İlayda İsabetli Fidan, Research Assistant Burak Buyun, and students from the Department of Economics.

The book "The Role of Higher Education Institutions in Sustainable Development", edited by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Gürsoy, head of the Economics department, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esra Bayhantopçu, has been published by Istinye University Press.

We congratulate Assoc. Prof. Dr. Caner Özdurak on the publication of his article titled 'Borsa Istanbul as an Inflation Hedge: A Post-COVID-19 Perspective' in the Scopus-indexed International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues.

The event titled "Current Economic Developments and the Importance of Personal Finance Management," organized by the Department of Economics and the Economic Policy Research and Implementation Center (EPAM), was conducted with a presentation by Mehmet Gerz, CEO/CIO of ATA Portfolio Management.

The LÖSEV (Foundation for Children with Leukemia) Benefit Club, established by our Economics Department students in collaboration with LÖSEV, has commenced its activities as of the Fall 2024-2025 academic term. The club, which is open to students from across our university, aims to raise awareness about leukemia and contribute by bringing LÖSEV’s initiatives to our campus.

Istinye University Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences 1st Interdisciplinary Student Symposium will be held on December 16-17, 2024 with the title "Sustainability in Interdisciplinary Studies".

During the symposium, which is organised in cooperation with the International Research Center on Sustainability (IRCOS), workshops on the theme of sustainability will be held with the participation of students and other Research Centres of the university. Istinye University students working on sustainability are invited to the symposium to share their sustainability-themed studies. Sessions will be held face-to-face in Turkish and English.

Head of the Department of Economics, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Gürsoy, and Communication Faculty member from the Department of Public Relations and Advertising, Asst. Prof. Esra Bayhantopçu, visited the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce.

We congratulate Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayfer Ustabaş from the Department of Economics on the publication of her article titled "The Role of Environmental Innovation on Ecological Footprint in Nations with High-Technology Exports Concentrations in International Trade" in the SSCI Q1 indexed journal Technological Forecasting & Social Change.

We held our 3rd traditional alumni breakfast with the graduates of the Department of Economics from 2024 and earlier.

Our department students Sema Nur Yücel, Beyza Gülsüm Ceylan, and İzem Kaplan have achieved second place in the 2nd Social Responsibility Project Competition organized by the İstinye University International Center for Sustainability Practices and Research with their project titled 'Sustainable Society Association'. We congratulate our students and wish them continued success.

Our department faculty member, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayfer Ustabaş, presented her paper titled 'Exploring the Influence of Environmental Awareness and Perceived Behavioral Control on EV Purchase Intentions: An Empirical Study from Turkey' at the symposium organized by Boğaziçi University, UNR College of Business, UNR Center for Basque Studies, and the Bizkaia Governorship, titled 'Entrepreneurship amidst 21st Century Dynamics: Business-Government Relations'.

Teresa Felgueira, Teresa Paiva and Catarina Alves from Guarda Polytechnic Institute visited our university within the scope of the ISU Entrepreneurship Workshop, Erasmus 2024 Mobility program.

Economics Department member Asst. Prof. İlayda İSABETLİ FİDAN's article titled "Was There a Left Turn in Latin America? Building a Social Democracy Index" was published in Latin American Perspectives journal, one of the Q2 journals of the SJR (SCImago) index.

Head of Economics Department, Assoc. Dr. Çiğdem Gürsoy made a presentation titled "Median Examination of Household Data on Emerging Technologies and Media Use (2011-2023)" on May 9, 2024, at the 4th International Media and Society Symposium (MASS), organized by Faculty of Communication.

Our Department of Economics organized an event on Disaster Preparedness and Social Awareness with the participation of Prof. Dr. Oya Yazıcı Çakın

The event titled "Turkey and the World Economy in 2024" was held by EPAM with the participation of Yatırım Finansman Corporate Communications Director Dr. Barış Esen.

Our Economy Department visited Macellan Company, one of its external stakeholders. During the visit, upon the invitation of Macellan CEO Göktürk Yetim, a meeting was held on the projects that our department and Magellan will jointly develop.