Episode 7: “Projecilik”—When Funding Becomes the Product I was recently at an academic conference when a colleague introduced herself: “I’m working on a TÜBİTAK-funded project on digital literacy.” Not “I’m researching digital literacy.” Not “I’m studying how social media affects learning.” No—the funded project itself was the primary credential, the opening gambit, the thing most … Read more
I see people sharing tools to help you find the best-fitting journal for your manuscript if you don’t already have one in mind. Choosing the right journal is as important as writing the paper itself—these tools make that decision far easier. I have curated a list for you. General‑purpose and major publisher tools Elsevier Journal … Read more
Before I moved to the US for my doctoral studies, I had worked as a TA at İstanbul Bilgi University. I assisted Prof Avcı’s introduction to media courses. Nabi Avcı was involved in politics and later served as Turkey’s minister of education and then of culture. I had the opportunity to get in touch with … Read more
Episode 3- The Q1 Journal Fetish Episode 4- The Administrator Problem Episode 5- The University Rankings Game With no public debate or academic consensus, Türkiye’s Higher Education Council (YÖK) decided to reduce undergraduate education to 3 years. YÖK is so powerful that no university administration can challenge its decisions. YÖK can easily stop a university’s existence. I have … Read more
An X user shared a scholarship database: Download and Save this PDF if you are looking for a scholarship in 2026. It contains more than 200 different scholarships from countries like the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, European countries, and others. Here is the link for the database.
As of 11 January 2026, curated by ChatGPT Agent. I hope this helps. The table below summarizes the services that offer completely free or discounted plans for people who register with a verified student/faculty email address (usually .edu) or pass SheerID-like verifications. Each service is accompanied by a list of benefits, eligibility requirements and important … Read more
As I prepare for the next semester, I listed all the publications and projects our current students have. In the end, you can also see the Google Scholar accounts of our graduates. This is my third year as the program director, and I believe we will rotate this position, but I will continue to teach … Read more
After three weeks, I can finally rest on a Saturday, which still includes the embarrassingly dirty car getting washed, which in turn contributes more to Google Maps by trying a different mall. The highlight of the week was a training session at the Anadolu Agency ,which is reported here in English. The week included … Read more
STS Turkey Science, Technology, and Society Winter School 2026: STS101: Introduction to Science and Technology Studies Location: Ministry of Youth and Sports Facility, Gölbaşı, Ankara Organizers: Şafak Kılıçtepe, Gülizar Karahan Balya, Arsev Umur Aydınoğlu, Melike Şahinol, Emine Öncüler Yayalar, Erkan Saka, İskender Gökalp The STS Turkey Science and Technology Studies (STS Turkey) Research Network continues … Read more
Here comes the 5th episode. I have relied on Claude in formatting the text and doing some research. In the very end, I also provide a list of all major university rankings, prepared with the help of Perplexity. Episode 1- The Performance of Transparency Episode 2 – The Theater of Scholarly Collegiality Episode 3- The Q1 Journal … Read more
I see a new article nearly every week about the state of higher education due to the rise of generative AI. These are mostly pessimistic articles, and they definitely carry some truth. Still, in a broader perspective, I cannot help but think that higher education/academia was in trouble before generative AI. The latter pushes it … Read more
Episode 4: The Administrator Problem—More Royalist Than the King Episode 1- The Performance of Transparency Episode 2 – The Theater of Scholarly Collegiality Episode 3- The Q1 Journal Fetish Think of a curriculum reform meeting where the university administrator unveiled a new “strategic excellence framework.” The presentation featured organizational charts, key performance indicators, and deliverables. The word … Read more
A few days ago, I was invited to serve as a panelist at a RESAID project (“Creating Societal Cognitive Resilience Against Information Disorders – RESAID”) event. This EU-funded project has substantive online course content and has developed a few online games related to disinformation issues. The panel was reported by AA as well. Here are … Read more
New international student enrollment in the U.S. dropped by 17 percent this fall compared to last year, according to multiple sources including Inside Higher Ed, the Institute of International Education (IIE), and Higher Ed Dive. This decline is attributed to recent changes in U.S. immigration and visa policies under the Trump administration, which have made … Read more
Episode 3: The Q1 Journal Fetish Episode 1- The Performance of Transparency Episode 2 – The Theater of Scholarly Collegiality A colleague proudly announced his latest publication, adding Q1 even before the title. I see self-promotional Instagram posts that mention the Q number, mostly Q1. This moment crystallized something I’ve observed throughout my career in Turkish … Read more