METU Polar Research Workshop
20 March 2017 Monday, Room: KKM C, 9:30 – 16:30
Polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic) play an increasingly key role in global climate change. As extreme environments (darkness, low temperatures), polar lands and seas can serve as a natural laboratory to confront grand challenges from social to engineering sciences. Moreover, they are of great geopolitical importance due to the untapped fossil fuel resources.
Academic interest in Polar research in Turkey have surged in recent years and Turkish Government has publicly announced plans to initiate an Antartic science base. In this context, there is an urgent need to identify a research program within METU that is multidisciplinary, innovative and internationally competitive. Some of the fields that may contribute to Polar research include:
Climate, Marine and Earth Sciences
Materials, civil and mechanical engineering at extreme environments
Psychology: adaptation in isolated environments
Life sciences and biomedical engineering
Biodiversity, conservation biology
Robotics and sensor technologies
International relations and law
Astronomy, electromagnetism, remote sensing
Energy and environmental engineering
Primary aims of this workshop are:
- To identify research areas and capacity in METU that may be related to Polar research
- To discuss the latest national and international oppportunities and challenges
- To build bridges between the established METU research fields and Polar sciences
- To bring together potential researchers that may be willing to take part in a future METU Polar Research Center
You can find the workshop program below. For more information please contact Assoc. Prof. Barış Salihoğlu (baris@ims.metu.edu.tr) .
METU Polar Research Workshop
20 March, 2017, Monday, KKM Hall C, 9:30 – 16:30
Programme
09:30-10:00 Registration
10:00-10:30 Opening, Why is polar research important? (Prof. M.V. Kök, Prof. M. Zeyrek, Assoc.Prof. A. Yozgatlıgil, Assoc. Prof. B. Salihoğlu; METU)
10:30-11:00 What is the current state of polar research at the international level? (Assoc.Prof. B. Fach, METU)
11:00-11:15 Coffee Break
11:15-11:45 Why Turkey should be active in polar research and what has been done so far? (Prof. B. Öztürk, Istanbul University)
11:45-12:30 METU Polar Explorers (Assist. Prof. K. Özkan, Dr. H. Örek, Assoc.Prof. B. Fach, Assoc.Prof. B. Salihoğlu, Dr. M. Ok, METU)
12:30-13:30 Lunch break, discussions on METU capacity
13:30-15:00 Defining the current polar research capacity of METU: Interactive working groups (Moderators: Assoc. Prof. A. Yozgatlıgil, Assist.Prof. M. Yücel, Prof. A. Yılmaz, Dr A. Gazihan)
15:00-15:15 Coffee Break
15:15-16:00 Synthesis of workshop results, feedback from participants (Moderators: Assoc.Prof. B. Salihoğlu, Assist. Prof. D. Tezcan)
